|
NAVIGATE THE PENNSY DIARY - THE STORY OF THE RESTORATION OF THE PENNSY MIDDLE DIVISION
Chapter 1 - Does Anyone Know a Good Lawyer?
My wife is going to kill me, and quite frankly, I don’t blame her. It’s Sunday morning, it’s 90 degrees out, and we’re attempting to move a model railroad that is supposed to be portable. It really isn’t.
It’s heavy, even for me, so I can only imagine what it must be like for her. To make matters worse, the effects of alcohol dehydration are beginning to kick in from the wedding we attended the night before. My herniated disc, and the remnants of my dislocated shoulder are wreaking havoc with the rest of my out of shape body.
My angelic wife grunts and strains and curses me so the whole neighborhood can hear her. I curse Dave Frary.
The HO scale Pennsy Middle Division Layout was built by Frary in six sections so it could be moved easily by two adults. I read that in the January 1993 issue of Model Railroader magazine, but here I am trying to move it, and I’m taking exception to the article. Each section weighs at least 100 pounds, and none of the sections have handles, or anything else for that matter to grab onto. The razor-sharp tips of screws stick out of the layout frame, and the fascia board extends to allow for no real place to grip the pine underneath. Chapter 2 - Ten Pounds of #$%* In a Five Pound Bag
Jimmy Deignan may have lost a leg, but he didn’t lose his sense of humor. “Just throw a section on my back, and I’ll drive it down the hill,” he said from his wheelchair perched at the top of a steep hill above street level.
The Pennsy is Jimmy’s layout. He bought it from a guy in Florida who tried to sell it on E-Bay in 2000, but the high-bidder welched. Jimmy has the next highest bid, and makes a deal with the owner who agrees to meet him in North Carolina with a U-Haul trailer, and the Pennsy. Jimmy and his wife Jacynta, exchange cash for the contents of the U-Haul, and drive back to Massachusetts in a violent December rainstorm.
Jimmy has plans to restore the layout and place it in a custom built room above a newly built garage, but a motorcycle accident puts an end to that. His new house has a large walkout basement that allows easy access for him, and room for his railroad empire.
That walkout door is the only thing that made the move even remotely bearable. Jacynta jumped in and helped us carry out the six sections. She is a tiny lady with incredible strength. My wife is no slouch either. I try to con one of my nephews into helping, but over the years, they have all gotten wise to my pleas for help. I have made them move so many heavy, over-sized items, that now, they vanish like a fart in the wind when I ask.
Jimmy informs me the night before that he has rented a U-Haul trailer like the one he brought the layout from North Carolina in. He also has a wheelchair van, and I borrow my Father-in-Law’s full sized SUV. As it turns out, it almost isn’t enough.
We gingerly wrestle each section onto a two-wheel hand truck, and with a lady on each side to balance the load, I carefully move the truck down the steep, paved walkway. If I slip, the layout, the hand truck and I will go flying. We manage to get all six sections to the bottom of the hill, but it takes a full hour in the hot sun to do so. We load four sections into the U-Haul; one laying flat, the other three on their sides. I’m not very happy with this configuration, as I don’t want to create additional damage to the sections. There’s no other way to do it though, and I am only able to close the door about three quarters of the way. A bungee cord will have to carry the responsibility of holding the door down, and the contents in, during our 30-mile ride to my house.
We attempt to put the fifth section in the back of the van. We can’t figure out how to get the back seat to fold down. There are no handles, latches, releases, or indications how to accomplish this. Jacynta pushes, pulls and tugs on it for about 10 minutes. Finally out of frustration, she leans on the backrest while sitting on the seat. It easily folds back, and lays flat. We slide the section on top of the seat.
With just one section left, and a GMC truck to put it in, the future looks bright. Except, we have the same problem that we had with the van. We can’t get the damned seats to fold down. Again, there are no handles, latches or instructions. Heaven forbid the owner’s manual would be in the glove compartment. We find some cables under the seat that lead to an invisible lever somewhere, but we can’t find it. It’s about 110-degrees in the truck, and I’m out of patience. Fortunately, the sixth section is fairly flat. We decide to place it on top of the back seats, and balance it with some storage crates underneath. As long as I don’t have to stop quickly, my wife and I will make it back home safely.
Jimmy and Jacynta pile into the van that’s pulling the U-Haul, and my wife and I take off in the SUV. I call my niece and tell her to send her husband to my house to meet us. Offloading the layout is easy…no hills to navigate, just a 10 foot walk from the driveway to the garage. We lower the legs on the sections, and place them in the proper order. The layout takes up one whole side of my two-bay garage. It will be here for the next six months.
Chapter Three - Be Careful What You Wish For
How does this layout end up in MY garage? Well we have a gentleman by the name of John Bagley to thank for that. John is a member of the internet-based Railroad Line Forum, a group of modelers that share ideas and techniques as well as their love for the hobby over the Internet. John has known Jimmy for years and is aware of his motorcycle accident. When John finds out that Jimmy is looking to make contact with a local modeler, he sends me an e-mail.
I contact Jimmy, and after a few e-mails, arrangements are made to send me South River Modelworks’ Martin Machine Co. to build for him. I deliver the diorama three weeks later, and spend some time looking at Jimmy’s collection of famous layouts. Alongside the Pennsy is the N-scale Clinchfield layout that Gordon Odegard built for Model Railroader in 1977 and 78. In my mind, it’s the first quality layout built in N-scale, and perhaps the only quality layout. It is nicely preserved…unlike the Pennsy. We spend some time talking about his plans for these layouts. He wants to restore and keep the Pennsy, and sell the Clinchfield. He mentions that he has talked to Dave Frary, the builder of the Pennsy about restoration, but Frary expresses little interest.
Martin is followed by South River’s Whitney & Bent. Jimmy likes my work, and has custom glass cases made for each diorama so he can display them in his living room. Rugg Manufacturing follows Whitney & Bent. It’s quite clear that Jimmy has a fetish for wooden mills. After delivering Whitney & Bent, I ask him if he had sold the Clinchfield yet. He hasn’t. I ask him if he would be willing to trade the layout for some more dioramas. He says he definitely would. Hmmm….
My head is spinning as I drive home. What on earth will I do with the layout? I’m not an N-scaler, and the layout measures 6’ x 13’. I can put it in my office, and watch the trains run. But most importantly, I feel a desire to make sure this piece of model railroading history is preserved, so that other can enjoy it. My mind is made up. I arrive home to find an e-mail from Jimmy. “Would you be willing to restore the Pennsy in trade for the Clinchfield?” he asks. Done deal.
Chapter Four - So, You Want To Be An Author?
When Jimmy asks me if I am interested in restoring the Pennsy for him, I realize that Model Railroader Magazine will probably be interested in an article, or perhaps even a series. After all, it was MR that commissioned Dave Frary to build the Pennsy for a series of articles beginning in the January 1993 issue, and culminating that September. The Pennsy is one of the finest project layouts MR has ever done. Frary, the hobby’s best selling author of all time, did an incredible job of executing the late Gordon Odegard’s design. Frary’s long-time friend and associate Bob Hayden built the trackwork. The layout does a great job of capturing the feel of central Pennsylvania. When Frary was done, the layout traveled the country with the Greenberg Shows. Several thousand people got the chance to admire Dave’s craftsmanship.
So with this in mind, I speak with Lou Sassi. Lou is a prolific author and contract photographer for MR. He has written three books, and photographed many layouts that have appeared in the magazine. He is also a top-notch model railroader. I tell him about the project, the fact that the layout has to be wheelchair accessible, the circumstances surrounding its acquisition, and the proposed new peninsula. He’s excited, and we talk about the different stories that can be written. He agrees to contact MR Editor Terry Thompson, and present the project. I’m excited at the prospect of Lou doing the photography. Despite my background as a professional photographer, I lack the expertise in model railroad photography that he has.
Lou calls me back the next day to tell me that he has spoken to Thompson who has confirmed that the magazine is indeed interested. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Thompson doesn’t want Lou involved. Evidently, contract photographers are paid a lot more than regular contributors. Thompson feels that the only angle to this story is the restoration…in other words, a “how to” article. He doesn’t want to pay extra for something that is a “secondary story”. Lou suggests that I call Thompson to introduce myself, and make sure he and I are on the same page. I want to make sure I am not wasting my time by providing the magazine with material it doesn’t want. I also want to give Thompson an opportunity to ask me any questions he might have concerning my abilities as a modeler, writer and photographer. I also want to try to lobby to get my friend Lou back in the project.
After two messages on his voice mail over two days, I finally get a call back. “Mr. Mason, this is Terry Thompson at Model Railroader Magazine.” As it turns out, this will be the longest sentence I will extract from him during our five minute, mostly one-sided conversation.
I explain why I want to talk with him, and he explains briefly the he sees little interest in the wheelchair issue, and the magazine cover is reserved for full-length layout features. He wants me to write a “how to” article on the restoration…plain and simple. He reiterates that he doesn’t want Lou involved, and we both agree that sending Lou to photograph the layout once it’s done is a waste of time.
I hang up the phone and realize that my conversation with Thompson is symptomatic of the demise of a once-fine publication. Instead of writing something different and unique, I am offered an opportunity to write another “how to” article. Geez!
Chapter Five - Scottie Gets Help
I can build a model railroad, I just can’t wire one. But I know someone who can. Dick Elwell has been a model railroader for 50 years. He has forgotten more than I’ll ever know. He is a kind and wise individual who has helped many people, and made many friends in the hobby. His layout, the Hoosac Valley Lines is one of the finest model railroads in the country.
He is instrumental in the design and construction of my layout, and despite living about 130 miles from me, comes over when I need him. He is a true gentleman and a true friend…really a surrogate father, and the first person I need to convince to help me.
I tell him about the project, and he listens intently like he always does. His questions are thorough and well thought out. I tell him that I need to add a DCC system to the layout. He agrees. I ask him to wire it for me. He agrees again. I tell him we have to add switch machines to the turnouts, and the signals need to be reconnected. He doesn’t blink. That night before I close my eyes, I thank God for Dick.
Jim Corcoran is the kind of friend that everyone wishes they had. He will do anything to help…sometimes going out of his way if he has to. Like Dick, he is patient and kind, unless you get him on the golf course. He is a three handicap who plays to win. He and Dick take great pride in whooping my ass on the links.
Jim is also a very fine model railroader. He is extremely meticulous, and sweats the details. He does the things that no one else wants to take the time to do. His expertise is track, ballast and trackside details. It should be though. He has been a top-flight locomotive engineer for 35 years, and literally spends his days looking at these details.
He stops by to look at the layout in the garage, and immediately gets excited. “You really ought to think about what you’re going to do around this coal mine,” he says. “What do you mean ‘you’,” I reply. “If you have ideas, and you want to get involved, you’re in,” I say. “Okay, I’m in.” Two down, and one to go.
Rich Josselyn might not be so easy to convince.
Rich is another fantastic modeler who is a savant with a digital camera. He photographed George Sellios’s layout for a series in Mainline Modeler Magazine last year, and his work was very well done. He captured views of the Franklin & South Manchester that haven’t been photographed before.
Rich tends to fly under the radar, and is not widely known beyond some of the internet-based railroad forums that he contributes to. He is Sellios’s right-hand man, and is responsible for the performance of George’s locomotives and rolling stock, but he is also a very good structure builder.
He built an MDC Climax locomotive for me that is a showpiece. The detail is incredible, and it runs like a Swiss watch. I need him and his camera, but he lives an hour away, and commutes to Boston each day for work. Getting him to my house on a regular basis to shoot pictures won’t be easy.
He agrees on the basis that we can modify the schedule to allow us to photograph several segments on each of his visits. That means I need to do my homework up front in order to be ready for him, but I know the results will be worth it. Because he is not a contract photographer, he will get paid the same amount I would have, if I took the photos, so MR can’t object to that. Rich hopes that his exposure in MR will make his name more familiar to hobbyists. He will be doing all the photography for Sellios’s next book.
Chapter Six - An Earthquake Hits Central Pennsylvania
I send an e-mail to Frary, thanking him for making the Pennsy “portable”. His reply provides a lot of insight and answers a lot of questions.
As it turns out, the Pennsy is not built to be a portable layout. Well into the construction, Frary receives a call from MR. They have just bought the Greenberg Shows, and want the Pennsy to travel around the country on display along with the Clinchfield. They also want Frary to accompany both layouts.
Dave has to modify the layout in order to accommodate MR and Greenberg. The result is a layout that breaks into six sections. It doesn’t take long for the damage to mount. “They (Greenberg) didn’t want the layout because it meant they had to employ another person to baby-sit it,” he said. “After the second show they lost the legs I made for it, and were setting the thing up on folding tables. After a few shows, buildings were missing, scenery got damaged, and people were picking trees off it to put on their own layouts. It was nearly ruined. The Greenberg folks asked me to provide a quote to fix it, but didn’t like the number I gave them,” he said. “They asked some members of a club in Maryland to work on it. They didn’t do a very good job. After that I lost track of it, until Jimmy called me to tell me he had bought it.”
The damage is extensive. Large portions of scenery are damaged. Frary uses plaster-impregnated gauze for the hardshell, and it tears away from the fascia board under the stress of being moved. “I never would have built it that way, if I knew it was going to travel like that,” he said. “I tried to hot-glue it back together, but it was never the same.”
Perhaps in an attempt to facilitate a repair, someone decides to replace some of the Walther’s code 83 turnouts with Atlas code 100 turnouts. They also replace the Lima crossing with an Atlas. Ballast is damaged and removed. Flex track is casually nailed down on the cork roadbed. Rockwork is destroyed. The entire layout is covered in a thick coat of dust. Dave uses Foam Core to build the roads, but the moisture over the years takes its toll, and the Foam Core begins to delaminate, and deteriorate. All the tunnel portals crack from movement, and many of the tunnel linings break, or are missing. Preiser figures lay on their sides, having died from the devastation that befalls the Pennsylvania hills.
Chapter Seven - Send in the National Guard
Saturday June 11, 2005: Rich Josselyn pulls into my driveway at 9:00 a.m. He’s driving a yellow 1971 Dodge Dart with a daisy painted on each of the doors and a peace sign painted on the roof. The front bumper has a yellow smiley-face, have a nice day guy bumper sticker on it.
Rich jumps out. He’s wearing a pair of brown bell-bottom slacks with pink polka dots. His shirt is brown and silk and unbuttoned to his naval. He has several large gold chains around his neck.
From the passenger side exits his Asian boy-toy assistant, Stephen (spelled with a “ph”). Stephen grabs Richs’ equipment (camera equipment you sickos!), and joins him in the garage.
Okay, okay, I’m only kidding. Except for the part about Rich showing up at 9:00. It’s another hot day in the Boston area, and my garage is already steamy. Rich turns on a pair of 500-watt floodlights, and the temperature goes up more. He surveys the damage, and decides on a starting point. With his camera on a tripod, he meticulously and slowly moves counter clockwise around the layout. He photographs all the damage over the course of the next three hours, pointing out some areas I may have missed in my survey, but he can see through his camera lens.
We talk about the fine job Dave Frary did, and shoot the breeze about Yahoo Group members and Forum members, and modeling in general. At this time, the hardest thing I have to do is sit back and watch. That ends after lunch though. We break to go to the sub shop in the Vette. We grab a couple of subs, and head back to the house to eat. Thankfully it’s cooler in the house than in the garage.
After lunch, the “how to” shots begin…Scottie vacuuming the layout…Scottie dusting the layout…Scottie fixing a tunnel portal…Scottie ripping out some damaged scenery. Working under those lights is tough. I know why Rich is sweating. We wrap up around 4:00. Seven hours of photography gets us a good start on the article, but I have a long way to go before I can say I have a good start on the project. A solid week of dusting and vacuuming awaits me, then some decisions about the trackwork.
Chapter Eight - Fish or Cut Bait
Monday June 13, 2005 The track has to go. There’s no two ways about it. So does the fascia board for that matter. This project is quickly becoming quicksand. It reminds me of when we build the addition on the house two years ago. As soon as we peel away the old siding, we see more damage then we ever imagine. So it is with the Pennsy.
In the MR series, Bob Hayden claims to make “bullet-proof track”. Well, it may be bullet-proof, but it isn’t idiot-proof. Too bad because it’s idiots, not bullets that have wrecked it.
This is a note to the person or persons responsible for replacing Walther’s code 83 turnouts with Atlas Custom Line code 100 turnouts…you are an idiot! You did no one a favor, and I don’t like you.
I feel better now.
Anyway, the majority of the track is in pretty good shape, but it doesn’t matter. There are other issues to consider, the biggest of which is the need for track on a layout that is owned by someone in a wheelchair to be both bullet-proof, and idiot proof. The Walther’s turnouts that are on the layout are the old style, and not the new DCC friendly version with the insulated frogs, etc… Upon conferring with my fellow team members, we decide that it will be better to scrap the track, put in DCC friendly turnouts, and reduce the risk of stalls, short circuits, etc…
That’s reason number one. Reason two has to do with the ballast, or in some cases, lack of ballast. Dave uses ballast by a company called Timber Products on the Pennsy. There are 150 manufacturers of ballast, most we have heard of, but he chooses Timber Products. They are no longer in business. This ballast has a very unique look to it…similar to Campbell ballast, which is also no longer available.
So, because some chucklehead (probably the guy who used the Atlas track) ripped up some flex track, and scraped off the ballast underneath, then replaced the flex track without replacing the ballast, I have to spend a day in a 100+ degree garage removing track and scraping off ballast.
Dave doesn’t skimp on the matte medium that holds the ballast in place, and I have to constantly remind myself to b careful not to damage the cork roadbed under the ballast. I definitely don’t want to replace that. A combination of the high humidity and the matte medium make the removal a tedious chore, and I spend about five hours with a 1 ½” wood chisel in one hand, and a shop vac in the other before I’m happy with the results. The good news is that there really isn’t much track on this layout, and replacing it should go quickly. The DCC friendly turnouts will save a lot of time. No gaps have to be cut, and no feeder wires have to be installed.
The fascia board is also on borrowed time. Initially I hope to just repaint it, but upon further review, there are sections that are damaged beyond repair. The best thing to do is rip it all off, trace the contours onto new fascia board and go from there. Masonite makes great fascia board, as long as you leave it alone once it’s in place. If you bang it, put too much weight on it or against it, or expose it to too many changes in temperature and humidity, it will begin to break down, and I have samples to prove it.
Wherever the sections end, the edges of the fascia board have been damaged. I suspect this is due to the pieces being set on edge when they are installed and lugged around the country with the Greenberg folks. We plan to drill holes in this stuff for the switch machine toggles, and this will only weaken it further. So we add one more thing to the list.
I ask Jimmy’s permission to change the color of the fascia. Right now it is a rather bright green. I suggest either black, or Brunswick Green (almost black) in keeping with the Pennsy scheme. Jimmy chooses black. This will make the ground color stand out better. I won’t remove the fascia until after the track has been replaced.
Chapter Nine - “Is it Scottie or Scotty?”
Bob Leonard is one of my best friends, and the most knowledgeable person I know with regards to all things brass. He is also the Chief of the Prototype Police. He is a fantastic consultant, but he is no diplomat.
His “handle” on the Railroad Line Forum is RWL, and his mission is to pat me on the back if I’ve done something right, or slap me on the ass, if I haven’t. For the record, he doesn’t like rows of nail holes on structures.
Bob and I meet when we’re both members of a Boston area model railroad club in the early 1990’s. I am immediately impressed with his knowledge, his candor, and his outward lack of patience for those that either do no work, or don’t put forth their best efforts.
We team up with another friend who is building a very large home layout, and the three of us crank out a large volume of work in a short amount of time. Our ability to work together despite differing viewpoints, and an occasional heated debate, is a testament to our friendship, and our focus to get the job done.
Bob has since moved to Ft. Lauderdale, and our friend has become a sand flea in Las Vegas. Despite the distance, Bob is always there to help.
I call him Sunday night because he has something I want. Besides a substantial brass collection, Bob also likes to read. He has a library full of railroad-related books including several volumes on the Pennsy. But I decide to play it cool. “Do you have any books on the Pennsy Middle Division,” I ask. “Anything in color?” I know he does, because I saw them when I was there last fall. “I’ll send you what I have,” he says. Bob comes through once again. Even though I am really just copying Dave’s work, I want to see for myself what the Middle Division looks like. And just like that, Bob saves me a lot of research.
He is unaware of this diary, and I know that making him aware makes me vulnerable to his rebukes. Such is the case yesterday when he takes me to task for using “Scottie” instead of “Scotty”.
Folks, for the record, I don’t know how it should be spelled, and I really don’t care. About four people in the whole world have ever called me by that name. Even when I was little I was always called “Scott” If you see me use any other version, you know it’s an attempt at sarcasm, but as always Bob, thanks for the help (another attempt at sarcasm).
Chapter 10 - There’s a Paint Stirrer in the Benchwork
Wednesday June 15, 2005 There’s a paint stirrer in the benchwork folks. I kid you not. A used paint stirrer at that! Someone, maybe Dave, but I find that a little hard to believe, used a paint stirrer covered with dried white paint to act as a support for two pieces of fascia board that butt against each other. I thought I’ve seen it all after 30 years in this hobby. I guess I haven’t. Whoever put it there probably doesn’t think anyone will ever see it…a gross miscalculation on their part. Jim Corcoran arrives about 10:45 a.m. and goes right to work on the coal mine area. Using a dental pick, he scrapes all the ballast from between the ties. The track in the coal mine area will not be replaced, as it will be too hard to re-lay track under the mine structure. We will however, be replacing the three-way switch at the throat of the mine.
Once he’s got the ballast out and the area clean of debris, he takes out a box with coal in it. No, not the stuff you buy from the local hobby shop. This stuff is real coal that he picks up off the tracks…the real tracks. He has crushed it to various sizes, and begins to spread it around the mine area. “Coal mines were messy places,” he says. “Coal gets dropped all over the ground. Hoppers spill coal all over the place.” When he’s done, the area looks much better.
I continue to dust and vacuum and sneeze. I’m getting pretty good at this. When I’m done, I might get a job as a maid. My wife has begun calling me Alice. All the cleaning is beginning to pay off though. The scenery looks much more vibrant. Greens, and yellows and reds replace the dull gray cast. The water shines once more.
I move on to the coal mine where a few of the Campbell corrugated metal panels have loosened and fallen off. This is a delicate area. I don’t want to rebuild the mine. I get out my trusty all-purpose, super-dee-duper canopy glue, and glue the roof back in place, and the panels on the walls.
One of the goals of this project is to hide the seams between the six sections. Originally I am planning to do this at Jimmy’s house after the layout is returned, but it will be much easier to do here. I send Jimmy an e-mail suggesting the use of a professional mover to bring the layout back. They have bigger trucks and bigger people to move heavy items. If we use a pro, I can turn the six sections into two, and work on the seams while I have the layout. He agrees that we should get a quote. Another problem solved!
Finally, before calling it a day, I take a foam brush and wash all the roofs on all the structures with soapy water. What a difference! The dust I don’t remove with a soft brush and vacuum, washes away. The buildings look much better.
Jimmy is coming over on Friday to check out the progress, and bring me some items that I forgot to take last week. I hope the track arrives by then. I’m anxious to get the track and ballast back in place. Once that’s done, I’ll attack the fascia board. I won’t be using any paint stirrers though.
Chapter 11 - The Boss Pays a Visit
Friday June 17, 2005 Beware of Greeks bearing gifts…
I don’t think Jimmy Deignan is Greek, but he certainly is bearing gifts when he rolls into my driveway at 6:15 on Friday evening. He and Jacynta bring about 10 cases of scenery material…trees, ground foam, rocks, castings, poly-fiber, you name it, and it’s in the boxes.
The purpose of his visit is three-fold. He wants to see what I’ve accomplished because he is a goal-oriented taskmaster, who sets impossible quotas with impossible timelines. Okay, that’s not entirely true.
I want to show him two areas on the layout that require discussion. One area is just in front of the little yard. There was a coal company building there that got destroyed in the move. I can’t fix it, and I want Jimmy to start thinking about what he wants to replace it.
The second area is a little more complicated. Dave’s FoamCore has sagged in one area of the town, so that one section of the road is about ¼” higher then the other. This seam runs right down the middle of the street. My suggestion is to remove one building that’s in the way, and use lightweight joint compound to level off the surface. I feel the need to discuss this with Jimmy because he has asked me to keep as much of the original Pennsy as possible.
Jim Corcoran stops by on his way home, and meets Jimmy for the first time. Jim explains what he has done around the coal mine, and gets agreement from the boss for the remainder of the coal branch area.
Monday June 20, 2005
The guy in the brown truck brings me a present from Caboose Hobbies. The track Jimmy ordered last Monday finally shows up. There are two pieces that are backordered…the 30-degree crossing, and a number five right hand turnout. The good news is that these two pieces go in the same area, so I can work around them for now. The bad news is that anything on backorder from Walther’s can take a long time to arrive.
Although I’m replacing Walther’s turnouts with Walther’s turnouts, it becomes apparent quickly that the original turnouts have the excess track on either side of the frog removed. This was probably done to match Gordon Odegard’s trackplan. More than likely, he used NMRA templates for the turnouts, and these don’t take into consideration the additional track that the manufacturers build into their turnouts.
The problem I have is that I can’t cut the turnouts because they are the new DCC friendly version, and have metal bars soldered before and after the frogs to act as jumpers. These turnouts work very well, but they are somewhat fragile. If I try to cut them, I run the risk of breaking the solder joint. If I do that, I’ll really have a problem on my hands. So the only solution is to modify the placement of the turnouts slightly in order to compensate for the additional length. It’s takes a little time, but works out in the end.
It takes me the better part of the next 10 days to put the track back in place. There are still some areas I can’t put down yet because I don’t have the pieces. I hope the brown truck shows up soon.
For the first time in several years, a train rolls across the tracks. I’m able to hook up a DC powerpack and run a locomotive across several sections. The track is pretty dirty, but I’ll wait to the end before giving it a thorough cleaning. I have learned the hard way from building my own layout, that its better to test your track as you proceed, then to wait until the end…especially if you’re using the Walther’s turnouts.
Saturday June 25, 2005 Rich Josselyn arrives at my house at 8:15 Saturday morning. It is supposed to be a brutally hot day, and he wants to get out of my garage before he liquidates like the last time. I have a mop and pail standing by just in case.
Digital photography has many benefits over traditional film photography, but there are some disadvantages as well. The learning curve with a digital camera is substantially longer than with a film camera, and if your settings aren’t exact, you can’t compensate for it in the darkroom. Software such as Photoshop can fix errors, but that can be a lengthy process too. Knowing this, it’s understandable why Rich spends so much time fussing with the lights before he shoots. He doesn’t wan to have to do a re-shoot if he can help it.
Today, we’re wrapping up the remainder of the how-to shots (probably). We spend some time painting track, ballasting, and applying ground foam. We wrap things up at about 11:45, and Rich heads home without losing a gallon of water. Dave Frary uses Floquil Rail Brown in the spray can to paint the track. I am not so sure it’s made anymore, but the hobby shop guy says he can get it, so I order six cans. There are sections of original track still on the layout, and I want to match the color with that of the new track. Normally, I use Modelmaster Light Earth for my track.
I spray the Rail Brown, but as it dries, I realize it doesn’t match Dave’s Rail Brown. In fact, it looks just like Floquil’s Roof Brown, a much darker color. This paint looks better on the track, but the goal was to match the color. Rich informs me that when Testors bought Floquil several years ago, it changed the pigments of several paints, and according to George Sellios, Rail Brown was one of them. Thanks Testors…you bastards!
I think I’ve found a relatively close alternative for the Timber Products ballast that is also no longer available…Woodland Scenics mixed gray is pretty close, and with weathering might be indistinguishable. I’ve got my fingers crossed.
By the way, and this is no lie, Rich wore a headband Saturday. He looked like former Los Angeles Laker Kurt Rambis. The late Johnny Most, former radio voice of the Boston Celtics, used to refer to Rambis as McFilthy. Rambis’s teammate Mitch Kupchak was known as McNasty. I may have a new nickname for my friend Mr. Josselyn.
Chapter 13 - Man, am I in the Wrong Business!
Monday, June 27, 2005
Jimmy is starting the build-out of his basement soon, and I want to get the Clinchfield layout out of there, so it isn’t in the way, and it isn’t damaged. This time though, I’m going to be prepared. I head down to the local U-Haul-It store to rent a truck big enough to carry the whole thing.
What a bargain, just $29.95 for the truck…except it isn’t really $29.95 despite a big sign on the side of it saying it’s $29.95.The thug behind the counter shoves a piece of paper in front of me to sign. Next to “estimated total charge” it says $74.95. For a minute I figure I must be getting an 18-wheeler, and I tell him that the truck I want costs $29.95. He tells me that this is the truck, and the added charge is for mileage. Mileage? What’s the $29.95 for then? Well, it turns out that that is just the price to rent the truck. If you actually want to drive it, it costs more…a lot more.
The charitable people at U-Haul-It, never ones to gouge or take advantage, charge $0.89 per mile. That’s right folks, $0.89 per mile. Add that to the diesel fuel you have to replace, and you’ve got a true bargain on your hands. The good news is that it’s only a 104-mile roundtrip to Jimmy’s house.
My brother-in-law (unsuspecting idiot) and I arrive at Jimmy’s house and get to meet RichBeau from this forum. Rich has stopped by to pick up some kits from Jimmy. After Rich leaves, we head to the basement. The Clinchfield is in four pieces, and much lighter than the Pennsy.
After undoing the c-clamps that hold the sections together, we carry the layout to the truck and head home. Jimmy decides he’d like Fox Run Milling to take the place of the destroyed coal company, so I take along a completed structure. We get the layout home without incident and I return the truck to the good people at U-Haul-It. The punk behind the counter who has taken over for the thug that was working earlier asks me if everything was ok. I told him the air conditioner didn’t work. “Oh yeah, it never works in those trucks,” he says. “Why should it?” I ask him. The total comes to $129.00. Not bad! I crawl out of the store, wounded, but not dead yet.
Chapter 14 - A Track Plan for the New Peninsula?
Wednesday July 27, 2005
Well, it’s been a while folks, partly because I’ve had to spend an inordinate amount of time connecting the hidden track sections under the layout, and partly because it’s been too damn hot to work in my garage.
The pieces of track that span the sections have to be replaced along with the rest of the track. The difference here is that four sections are hidden in the loops under the coal mine. These four sections are barely reachable. I remove the access panel and that allows me to crouch down and at least see the track. The problem is that I can barely reach it as several wood risers for the track and benchwork above are in the way.
Someone cut out the fascia board on the backside of the coal mine. Certainly this is done to try to reach the hidden track. It helps, but it’s still extremely difficult to get my hands into the allotted space. The going is slow and frustrating. As I get each piece of track in place, I solder the joints to avoid any kinks. This is critical here as this is hidden track. Track problems in these areas will be a disaster. Only, I can’t really see what I’m soldering. My face is at track level, and it really needs to be over it, but there’s no way to accomplish that.
Consequently, I place and replace several sections of track before I am happy with any of them. I’m still not finished. I have two more joints to solder, but the mood and the temperature in the garage have to be right.
The brown truck rolls up, and delivers one of the pieces of track I am waiting for…the 30-degree crossing. I take it out to the layout only to find out that I #$%&*! up. The crossing I need is really a 19-degree crossing. This is a problem.
I send Dave Frary an e-mail, and he replies that Lima, the original supplier of the crossing in question, discontinued that line of track while he is building the Pennsy. In other words, I can’t get the crossing I need. Walther’s doesn’t make a 19-degree crossing, so that leaves Atlas. I send for one from my friend Frank at Standard Hobbies in New Jersey to see if it’s aesthetically comparable to what we are using. If not, Jimmy agrees that we’ll have to modify that part of the trackwork to remove the crossing altogether. I should have the crossing by the end of the week.
Progress has been made though.
Bob Leonard and others have submitted trackplans for consideration. Jimmy and I will meet sometime soon to decide what features we want to include. All the contributions are greatly appreciated. When done right, track planning is an art as well as a science. I was never any good at science.
The build-out of Jimmy’s basement is moving along. He’ll be ready for the Pennsy before I’m done. That’s a good thing. I’ll need the room in the garage to build the new peninsula.
Jimmy makes a trip out to Ohio for the NMRA National Convention, ostensibly to scout out DCC systems, but I know he also wants to ogle the babes that hang out at these shows. He brings me back a present…the #5 right hand turnout that has been on backorder since the beginning of this project, and probably the beginning of time. If I can resolve the crossing issue, the trackwork will be finished soon.
I experiment with coloring and weathering some Woodland Scenics Blended Gray Ballast to make it look like the ballast Frary used that is still on the layout in a few spots where the track couldn’t be replaced. I think I’ve found a formula, but the ballast I have is too large. We need “N” scale ballast in order to match what’s on the layout. Woodland Scenics doesn’t make “N” scale ballast (of course), but Arizona Rock and Mineral makes what looks like a close match.
Jim Corcoran comes over to work on the layout, and brings Ian Kempf. Ian and Jim are members of the Bay State Model Railroad Museum, also known as the Robert McLaughlin Memorial Train Museum, or simply, “The Bob”. Ian is an “N” scaler, and immediately crawls under the Clinchfield layout to inspect the 30-year old control system.
Within a few minutes, he and Jim have cleaned the track, and have a train running. I watch from the comfort of my office couch after having already spent three hours in the 80+-degree garage.
Ian is another talented modeler who works in a hobby shop. He volunteers his services on the Pennsy project, and will be much needed when the new construction begins in September.
Nice guy Artie Fahie, the owner of Bar Mills Models has offered four structure kits for the new peninsula. With a potential trackplan in place, the room almost done, and the restoration progressing, the pieces are starting to come together.
I blew it by ordering a 30-degree crossing a few weeks ago. I’m sure it’s wishful thinking on my part that this Walther’s crossing is the correct one, and of course I’m wrong. The good news is that I can use it on my layout. There’s a neat section of track that serves the Bellow’s Falls Creamery, and the siding for the Robertson Paper Company in my basement. The crossing will go there.
I order an Atlas 19-degree crossing from Standard Hobby Supply, thinking that this must be the right angle. I know it’s not a 12-degree, but oh dopey me…it arrives and is also wrong.
One of the Forum members asked if this area could be handlaid, but was quick to add that it wouldn’t be by him though. The short answer is of course yes. Anything can be handlaid, but I can’t imagine how anyone would accomplish this. The roadbed is cork, which is a poor product to handlay track on, as spikes don’t hold in the cork. Crossings are the hardest trackwork to handlay due to the amount of intricate rail pieces that must be cut and soldered. Wiring a handlaid crossing is also a tough chore. There are two regular frogs, and two other rail intersections (I guess they’re also frogs) on the sides that must be gapped and jumpered in order to work properly. All this in a span of about five inches. Now, try to accomplish all that in an area where the scenery and structures are complete. It ain’t gonna happen. So we implement Plan B.
I’ll try to describe this area as best I can for those of you who aren’t familiar with the layout. Two tracks enter a tunnel, loop around, and come out of an adjacent tunnel. After the tracks exit the tunnel, the inside track crosses itself on this infamous crossing, and connects to the outside track via a turnout. The outside track ties into the inside track. Confused? Oh well, now you know how I feel all the time.
Plan B eliminates the crossing. The outside track just loops around the way it did before, but the inside track loops back onto itself to become a reversing loop. Problem solved, except that the roadbed is cut to fit the original plan, and it takes a great deal of fiddling before I’m remotely happy with the way the new track looks. It’s definitely a compromise, but four of us came to the conclusion that it is the only way to do it.
After about four hours of work on Saturday, the trackwork is complete. The last thing I do, before getting out of the hot garage, is tape off the turnout points and spray the just finished track with Rail/Roof Brown. I clean off the tops of the rails and call it a day.
Chapter 17 - Low Expansion Foam
Sunday August 7, 2005
Have I told you that this layout was never meant to be modular? Yeah? Well, one of the many problems created as a result of this, are large gaps on the surface of the layout where the sections meet. Most of these gaps are as a result of damage during moving around the country, but some of it is caused by building a modular layout out of wood. Over time, the wood has changed dimension slightly due to changes in temperature, humidity, etc… and the pieces just don’t fit together like they should. Conversely, the Clinchfield Layout is built out of aluminum channel, and the pieces fit together so tightly, that you can’t slip a piece of paper between them.
The six original sections of the Pennsy are now two sections…three on one side, and three on the other, permanently connected. The problem is how to fill the surface gaps. I don’t want to introduce water to the equation if at all possible for fear of damaging the FoamCore more than it already is. With that in mind, plaster, Sculptamold and the like are ruled out. I also need something that’s got a little flexibility to it, as the layout still has to be moved one more time. Any hard materials will just crack and break.
In the middle of the night it comes to me…low expansion foam…the stuff that comes in spray cans. I’ve used it in the past for insulation purposes, and it seems to work well, but there is one concern. How low is “low”? The last thing I want to do is spray this stuff, and create a giant mess.
I take a ride to the local hardware store, and pick up a can. I find a remote area of the layout behind the coal mine where someone has taken a jigsaw to the scenery and fascia board, and spray a little foam. It fills the rather large gap nicely, and I feel comfortable in my ability to keep it from getting everywhere. My plan is to let the stuff cure, then go back with a single edge razor blade and trim off the excess.
So I go nuts. Within 10 minutes I fill every gap on the layout. I can’t believe how well this works. The best part is that it only takes 30 minutes to cure.
A lot can happen in a half hour folks. I am initially fooled by the extent of expansion immediately after I spray the foam. I find out after 30 minutes that the foam continues to expand for the entire half hour. I also find out that this stuff is the low temperature equivalent to Napalm. If you get it on your clothing, you have destroyed it. If you get it on yourself, plan on living with it for a while. I do both.
I also find out that when this stuff dries, it is pretty hard…not like the foam insulation boards we use for scenery. It takes quite a bit of effort to cut it with a razor blade. But I do manage to cut it, and while it may not be the panacea I had hoped for, it does the job, and I’m happy with the end result.
Now that the gaps are filled, I can do two things, replace the five stub-ended yard tracks, and place scenic materials over the gaps. Both these steps will go a long way towards completing the restoration.
The yard tracks take a few hours to put down. The main issue is a slight hump between two benchwork sections that the tracks must cross. I can’t figure out what causes the hump, and I can’t cure it. I add additional nuts and bolts to the framework, hoping to raise it slightly, but that doesn’t do the trick. The problem is on the surface, and messing with the existing scenery is a major no-no on this project. It effects two of the five tracks, and may not be noticeable once the track is ballasted. We’ll see.
I get out the ground foam and cover up as much of the foam as I can. Some areas will have to wait to be finished, especially those on the front edge of the layout as some of the fascia board is slated for replacement, and that must come first.
I mentioned in a previous chapter that the main road through town had shifted due to some tremendous seismic disturbance. Half the road is about ¼” lower than the other. Dave Frary uses a combination of paint and fine dirt to create the road, but this height difference must be fixed, even if it means changing the composition of the road. The good news is that the road crosses the benchwork section in only two places.
I get out a five gallon bucket of lightweight joint compound, and trowel it over the road, feathering out the chasm, and filling in the foam that I sprayed earlier. When it dries, I’ll go back and lightly sand it, and repaint the road. Enough for now.
Before I call it a day, I hook up a DC power pack, and run a Stewart F7 as far as I can on each section. Yes folks it runs.
Dave Frary is the God Almighty Master of Scenery. On this there can be no debate. He has pioneered more techniques in this hobby than anyone with the possible exception of Linn Westcott. His books are best sellers, and he is one of the few model railroaders who can truly claim to make a living from the hobby. Some of his inventions include water soluble scenery, foam putty, and of course, fuzzy balls.
Fuzzy balls, or poly fiber balls are just what they sound like…little balls made from poly fiber that are meant to represent foliage. The technique as outlined by Dave, is to con some unsuspecting child into making several thousand of these things, (when he built the Pennsy, he conned his grandson, a trick for which I’m sure the boy has sought revenge) then dip them in diluted matte medium, and roll them in ground foam.
According to Dave, one large bag of poly fiber makes about 80 balls. He claims that there are approximately 8,000 balls on the Pennsy. I placed a phone call to the Mathematics Department at MIT, and someone there…I think a custodian, told me that that equals 100 bags of poly fiber. I can hear Dave talking to his grandson now, “Just think, all you’ll have to do is make little balls from all the stuff in these cases, and you’ll get your name in Model Railroader Magazine, and I’ll buy you ice cream…ok and a new car when you’re ready to drive”
I have to replace some of the poly fiber on the existing portion of the Pennsy, and in order to keep a consistent look, I am planning to use fuzzy balls on the new peninsula. The new peninsula adds about 50-percent to the layout. Once again, my contact at Tech (home of the Beavers…natures engineers) tells me that that equals about 4,000 new fuzzy balls. Balls! I need Dave to come over and talk to my 10-year old daughter. I think I have her hooked, but after making four fuzzy balls, she high-tails it for the comfort of another room, and a safe distance from me. I glance at my wife and am met with a “yeah right” look, and my oldest daughter…the artist…is safely tucked away on Cape Cod with her friends for the week. I have never felt so alone.
It takes me only about 15 minutes to make a bag’s worth of fuzzy balls, and another 15 minutes to dunk them and roll them. I feel like some kind of non-food chef. BAM! Let’s see, 30 minutes for 80 balls…”hello MIT?” Oh yeah, that comes out to 25 hours of ersatz cooking.
Well, as you may imagine, I’m not looking forward to that little chore, so while I am sitting on the toilet, I have an epiphany. Who would be perfect for this little project? Who has a little time on their hands, and is great at arts and crafts projects? Who else? Martha Stewart!
So I send Martha the following e-mail (I swear to God I really sent it):
Dear Ms. Stewart, I read recently that your house arrest has been extended. I am truly sorry to hear this. I couldn’t believe anyone would throw a nice lady like you behind bars in the first place. However, I am very pleased to see that you are re-adjusting to the outside world once again. I am embroiled/engrossed/entangled in a project in which I thought you might have some interest. In fact, it is my belief that the one thing this project needs is the “Martha Stewart touch”. What do you know about model trains? Some friends and I are restoring a rather famous model railroad for a gentleman, who due to a motorcycle accident, is not able to do the work himself. My skills, and those of my friends, are such that we feel confident we can restore this layout to its former glory. Time is a factor here though, and there are some tasks (craft projects) that would unnecessarily extend the time line. Since you seem to have some unexpected time on your hands, maybe you could help. We need someone to make about 4,000 fuzzy balls. If you’re interested, I can send you the details in another e-mail, but suffice it to say, this project would combine all the skills of an arts and crafts project with the joys of preparing food. The best part is that this fun can be had right in your own kitchen. I’ve determined that it will take about 25 hours, but perhaps less for someone with your obvious skills and Le Joie de Vive! Oh, and by the way, you’ll also get your name in Model Railroader Magazine when the project is done. I know, it doesn’t have the exposure of “Martha Stewart Living”, but it will certainly provide some positive PR for you. All right, I’ll also throw in an ice cream when you’re done… Please let me know. I can send the materials to your house right away. Sincerely, Scott Mason Model Railroader
I’m certain I’ll get a positive response.
Chapter 19 - The Dog Days of Martha Stewart…I mean Summer
No reply. I am alone with my fuzzy balls. I half expect some corporate e-mail from the domestic diva thanking me for my interest, but explaining that she presently has no time, what with pending projects, and new television shows and such. Nothing. No form letter, not even a restraining order. I throw some of my best sarcasm into that e-mail and get squat in return. I’ve had it with Martha, and her prison-cultivated attitude, and her apron, and her deep-fried turkey at Thanksgiving, and her prison tattoo. I’m moving on.
Well, work progresses, and I finally feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Jim Corcoran and I are right on schedule, and at this point are pretty much working from a punch list.
The track is finished and ballasted. The ballast is weathered using Dave Frary’s recipe. The new ballast blends in with the old ballast. I was worried that it wouldn’t. The freight storage yard is finished and detailed. The hump in the two sections of benchwork is gone.
The roadway through town is skim-coated, sanded, painted with gray primer, and weathered with India Ink and alcohol and dark gray pastel chalk.
Jim has finished with the coal branch. Revenue trains will soon return to the hills of Central Pennsylvania. The downtrodden citizens of these hills can find solace and warmth in the 10 tons of coal on the tracks.
So what’s left? I’ve got several bumpers to build and install at the end of sidings before OSHA and the ICC get a hold of me. Jimmy bought two packages of bumpers from Walther’s. They come in two pieces, and must be glued together and painted. I took them outside today, and primed them with some gray paint. I’ll give them a coat of yellow before weathering.
Two areas of scenery need to be replaced. The first area is about four square inches, but tricky because it is a rock outcropping that rises out of a river. The second area is about 12” x 6”, and is located just outside the twin tunnels. On the original Pennsy, this area was a farm. Jimmy wants to add some kind of structure. We talk about Jefferies Point Stave and Heading Co., a Finescale Miniatures building, or Bailey’s Produce, another FSM kit. Jefferies Point would be tough because it requires a siding, but I could do it if I placed it on an abandoned siding. It would fit the area well. It’s a wedge-shaped structure, and the lot is also wedge-shaped. Bailey’s is a no-brainer…no siding required. I can envision both structures working in this area. Unfortunately, there’s only room for one of them. Jimmy has purchased a bunch of built-up kits over the years including these two. They’ll come in handy on the new peninsula.
Before I can replace either area, I have to replace about 10 feet of fascia board that has been damaged beyond repair. That’s on the punch list. The fascia board has been modified over the years. I’m speculating to some degree here, but I suspect that about the time Dave’s original legs (no, not Dave’s actual legs, the legs he built for the layout) turned up missing, someone decided to cut down the fascia board to the level of the framework. Undoubtedly, this was done to facilitate setting the modules down on folding tables as Dave explained. In any case, it’s clear that someone took a Sawzall, or a saber saw and chopped away. The end result is a fairly hideous mess. In some areas, the culprit cut above the framework, and you can see the 1” by’s.
The fascia is scratched and peeling and gouged. It will be impossible to replace all of it, as the scenery attaches to it, and as I mentioned before, doing anything that might damage more of the scenery is out of the question. I thought I could just re-paint the fascia, and in fact I could, but Dick Elwell presented me with a better solution.
Dick uses ¼” luan plywood covered with industrial felt mat. Only, until the other day, we didn’t know what it was, or where to get it, or even if it was still manufactured. Someone had given Dick several feet of the material many years ago, but Dick never knew what it was, he just liked the look. It is medium gray in color, and provides a warm frame in which to present a model railroad. Dick is the only one I know that uses this stuff, and just about everyone who visits his layout asks about it.
So while I was at his house last week, he suggests it to me as a way to hide the damaged Masonite on the Pennsy. “This will do the trick,” he says. “All you have to do is find out what it is, and where to get some.” He gives me a small piece of scrap before I leave, and charges me with finding more.
I take the sample to the local carpet store, and the guy there rolls his eyes and pleads ignorance. I didn’t really think it was a carpet product per se. It looks too industrial. I get back, and shoot a couple of photos to place on the Railroad Lines Forum. In no time Rich Beaubien, a Forum member, identifies it, and provides a company name where I can get some. I Google the company name and find out that it is in Hanover, MA, about 40 miles from me. Things are looking up. I have Jimmy’s blessing to buy what we need, and take a ride to Hanover.
“What do you need this stuff for,” asks a man named John at the William H. Bent Co. “Oh, here we go,” I think to myself. I hesitate to explain because I know what’s next. “You want to use it for what?” He shoots me the same look you get from a parent who thinks you’re wasting your time and money. I tell him I need about 100 feet to start, and eventually about four times that much for my own layout, and that of fellow Forum member Carl Laskey, who begins benchwork on his layout tomorrow.
“What railroad are you modeling,” John asks me. I explain the circumstances for which I require the felt, and I can tell his interest is piqued. Come to find out, John used to be a member of a local model railroad club, but has been out of the hobby for several years. “I may have enough remnants laying around that you can have,” he says finally. “Let me talk to some folks at the factory, and I’ll call you.” Success. I not only find a source, but it may be free.
Nothing’s ever really free though. Such is the case with the felt. I call John back on Tuesday, and he tells me that his company doesn’t actually manufacturer the product I showed him last Thursday. I find it a little difficult to understand how the president of a company does not know his own product line.
Be that as it may, he provides me with a company name and phone number of a place in Rhode Island that does manufacturer the felt. I ask him where in Rhode Island the company is located, and he tells me Woonsocket…10 minutes from my house. I drove an hour to get to Hanover last week, only to find that the felt is manufactured 10 miles away. I paid $3.39 a gallon for gas, and my vette gets about 20 miles to the gallon. So, it cost me about $15.00 to drive to Hanover last week.
I call the company in Woonsocket, and they do indeed make the felt. I drive down and meet with Larry the sales manager, and explain to him why I need it. He tells me he’d like to help, and he’ll give me the product at cost. The problem is, I have never asked anyone what this stuff goes for. He tells me that 100-percent wool felt in the thickness I need starts at about $11.00 per yard. YIKES! The material that Dick gave me is a specialty product and can cost as much as $35.00 per yard. I get a sick feeling in my stomach.
I follow him into the basement of a huge and ancient textile mill for which Woonsocket and the Blackstone River Valley are famous, and he leads me past hundreds on six-foot high rolls of felt. He explains that this material has many uses including padding for furniture, shoes, and saddles as well as industrial applications like applying wax coatings to paper cups.
In the last row of the basement we find a 12-yard roll of black felt. It’s enough material to take care of the Pennsy. He writes down a model number, and I ask him the price. “We have to check the computer,” he says as we make our way to the stairs leading to the first floor and his office.
He punches some keys, and pauses to read the feedback from the computer. “Hmmm…this roll doesn’t show up on my inventory,” he says with a smile. “I know what that means as I try to play it cool. “Do you want to take it with you today,” he asks. “Oh you bet I do,” I say.
Nothing is free, and nothing is easy. My sudden joy is eclipsed by the reality that I’m driving the Corvette today, and a six-foot long roll of material that weighs about 50 pounds is not going to fit in the car. We make plans to leave it in the basement at the bottom of the stairs. I’ll pick it up in my truck later today.
Chapter 21 - Two New Businesses and a New Neighbor
Jimmy Deignan has enough pre-built craftsman structure kits in his basement to built 10 model railroads. In some cases he has three of the same structure. Over the years, he has bought them with the idea that he will either use them on his own layout, or sell them to someone else. He also has a substantial pile of unbuilt kits that are for sale on E-Bay. His dealings in the craftsman kit secondary market are so substantial that some people have accused him of driving up the prices of these kits. The last time I checked, he wasn’t pointing a gun at anyone’s head, and forcing them to buy. This attention bothers him because more than anything, Jimmy really just loves model railroading, and craftsman kits in particular.
I drive over to his house on Saturday to take a mental inventory of what he has on the shelves, and also to pick up a couple of pre-builts for the restoration. He e-mails me some photos earlier in the week, and we agree that these are the structures we’ll use.
Among the structures we find a small wood and brick house that will work well in a vacant lot in the center of the horseshoe. All three structures are glued firmly to wooden bases. I need to be very careful not to damage the structures because I have neither the time nor the energy to rebuild/repair them. I say a prayer to the deity of my choice, and go to work.
I first remove all the details that I can that surround the structures. These pry up easily with a flat screwdriver and a #17 X-Acto blade. I’m not taking any chances with the structures though. I fill a bulb syringe with rubbing alcohol, and squeeze it around the base of all three buildings. Then I go into the family room and have a nap.
About an hour later, the alcohol has dissolved the glue, and the three buildings lift easily off their bases. Jefferies Point is placed next to the storage yard where once a small plastic coal company lived. Jefferies is bigger, but fits very well in its new location. Bailey’s Produce goes adjacent to the twin tunnels in an area previously occupied by a farm. This area was completely destroyed over the years. I tore it all out and would have reproduced it as it was, had Jimmy not suggested a structure in its place. I cut a piece of Styrofoam for the base, and glue it in place with hot glue, then blend in the surrounding scenery. Bailey’s fits well here…two for two.
The farm house also goes into its new location without issue. I guess the new neighbors must be the Bailey’s, of Bailey’s Produce fame.
I spend about 20 hours over the Labor Day Weekend working in the garage. The weather is perfect, and for my time and effort, I’m rewarded with two new businesses and a new neighbor. The economy is looking up. So is the state of this project.
Chapter 22 - The Trackplan for the New Peninsula
Bob Leonard designed the trackplan for the new peninsula. It will be modified slightly by adding at least five more industrial sidings, but otherwise will be built as depicted in a previous post in this thread. Jimmy, Bob and I, feel this plan allows for plenty of operation along with several scenarios for switching cars and maintaining a fleet of locomotives. The plan also adds about 40 feet of double-tracked mainline, and provides better than 50-percent more layout space. The mainline radiuses are 30” and 32” respectively.
The extra sidings will give Jimmy plenty of opportunities to display his kits. A ridge line will divide the peninsula down the middle, and help the layout maintain a consistent “Pennsy” feel.
Water will play a part in the upper left hand corner. We plan to model a backwater industry on the Susquehanna River. The two sidings depicted here will be on a wharf. This may be a location for Finescale’s Emporium Seafood…time will tell.
In keeping with the lightweight construction of the existing layout, and remembering that the peninsula has to be moved to Jimmy’s house once it’s done, framing will be done with traditional “L” girders and 1” x 3” lumber. Unlike the folding metal legs used on the original, I’m going to use tradition 2” x 4” wooden legs on the peninsula.
Track components will consist of the same products used on the original…Walthers’ code 83 turnouts, and Atlas code 83 flex track.
I expect the restoration to be finished by September 11th. Construction of the peninsula will begin by building two pieces of benchwork totaling 11’4” in length. Do to space restrictions in my garage, I can’t build these sections as one piece while the original layout is here. These two sections will span the existing two sections. These sections will be placed against their corresponding original sections to determine the exact placement of track. Once this is known the original Pennsy sections will be shipped back to Jimmy. The remaining two sections of new benchwork will be permanently attached to each other. The peninsula will be built next, and remain a separate section until the four pieces are reunited at Jimmy’s house where they will all be permanently connected.
Chapter 23 - Phase One…Complete
The restoration of the original layout is finished. It took three months as I predicted, and a couple of details will have to wait until the entire layout, new section and all are at Jimmy’s. I’m going to wait to install the switch machines until then. I don’t want them breaking off during the move.
I learned a lot during the restoration. Probably the biggest thing I learned is that without confidence, you’re sunk. I knew I could restore the layout despite its condition. I don’t know why I felt that way. I’ve never done anything like it before, and frankly, I’ll probably never do anything like it again. In any case, I couldn’t have done it at all without the help of Jim Corcoran who restored the coal branch, and provided much needed moral support at some critical junctures. He also came up with several good ideas, and solutions to problems. Dick Elwell also provided a ready ear, and made sure I hadn’t forgotten about the wiring that will eventually make this whole layout come to life. Bob Leonard also provided advice and support as well as the trackplan for the new peninsula. If he didn’t live 1,400 miles away, I’d have to pry him out of my garage.
I look forward to seeing Rich’s photos of the layout in Model Railroader. I’m going to have him photograph everything one more time when the peninsula is finished.
Certainly, I can never overlook the great feedback I received from the Railroad Line Forum members. The Forum is a very positive place, and the quality of modeler is incredible.
The process of restoration was as follows:
Some of the new materials and new techniques I used included:
Restoring a layout is much different than building a new one from scratch. Dick Elwell asked me if I’d do it all over again if I had the chance. I told him I would, but I also told him that if I had known Jimmy back in 2000 when he bought the layout, I would have tried to talk him out of it. It would have been easier to build him an entire layout. Please stay tuned. Construction on the new peninsula has begun. I’ll continue to update this diary as progress continues. I plan to have everything completed by Christmas.
When this is all done, I want to write a book…a biography of George Sellios. I think there would be a lot of interest in the hobby for such a book. This wouldn’t be a picture book, although I suppose we could include some. I’ll bet a lung that George has an interesting story to tell. I’d like to be the one to write about it. Then of course there’s the major motion picture that would spawn from the book. I guess I could write the screenplay. I’d like to be involved in the casting process as well.
I can see the part of George being played by Harrison Ford. A young George might be played by Brad Pitt perhaps, and George as a child could be portrayed by Haley Joe Osmet…”I see steam trains,” Or maybe that fat kid, Spencer Breslin. Although he may be too old now, I might consider Don Knotts for the part of faithful sidekick Rich Josselyn.
“I’d like to thank the little people who made this all possible,” I digress I guess. What does this have to do with the restoration? Well, nothing, but it’s my diary isn’t it?
Chapter 24 - Brown Truck Blues
It’s Columbus Day, a day that most Americans take for granted, but not me. Nothing against the Native Americans, but the Europeans brought modern architecture to this country. It would be pretty difficult building a model railroad in a teepee, or lodge hut, or any of the other types of dwellings the Native Americans called home. Thank God for the good old basement.
It’s cold outside. Fall is in the air, and winter isn’t too far away. Work on the new peninsula has begun, but I’ve hit a wall. The benchwork is complete, and the roadbed is down. I can’t do the trackwork because I’m waiting for my friends at Caboose Hobbies to send me some Walther’s Code 83 rail joiners. I should have had them over a week ago. Jimmy calls them, and they tell him they’re on the way. The brown truck must have gotten lost. Either that or the driver’s a model railroader, and he shanghaied my package.
I had hopes of spending the weekend doing trackwork, instead I spend it huddled under a blanket, shivering and watching football. My wife says it’s too early to turn on the heat. She watches the thermostats with an eagle eye because she doesn’t trust me. I don’t blame her. As soon as she left for work this morning, I turned the heat on. Hey, her office is heated, now mine is too.
I forget if UPS delivers on Columbus Day, but my nose will be pressed up against the window in hopes that they do. Two weeks ago, Jimmy and Jacynta stop by at 8:30 on a Monday night with no consideration for the impending Monday Night Football game. They bring a van load of craftsman structure dioramas…25 in all. These are buildings for the new peninsula. This is a good news/bad news scenario.
The good news is that my team and I will have very few structures to build. This will speed up construction of the new peninsula and allow us to meet our end of the year deadline. We will be building a South River Modelworks Brick Roundhouse, and probably some smaller buildings such as company houses, small businesses, etc… The bad news is that it’s much more difficult to design a layout around the structures despite my best efforts. Among the buildings Jimmy brings are several Finescale Miniature kits, a few Master Creations kits and a South River kit. They are all big structures. Jimmy has several more at home that I also need to look at and consider for this project.
Most of the dioramas are very nicely done, a few are contest quality. I design the sidings to accommodate larger structures because I know what Jimmy has in mind. He wants a place to display these kits. He’s undoubtedly paid good money for them over the years, and wants others to enjoy them. I appreciate what he’s trying to do, but it doesn’t make things any easier.
Even with longer sidings, it’s still a challenge. Jim Corcoran and I move several of the structures around. Some we find homes for right away, others take a while, and some we can’t use at all. I’m concerned about the landscape, as I plan to have a ridge line run down the middle of the peninsula.
Because of the design of some of the buildings, and their incorporation into dioramas, I have to put them aside. There’s no way I can manipulate the layout to work with them. Rutherford Hayes Coachworks is one of those buildings. Whoever built it did a great job, but it’s going back to Jimmy. Barongould’s Tannery is another such building. It’s just too damn big for the layout, and its configuration make it impossible with which to work.
Some of the structures have to be taken off the bases to be usable. This is sometimes easier said than done. I use a syringe full of rubbing alcohol around the bases of the structures, and let them sit for an hour or so. Those that have been glued with white glue come right up. A couple were put down with contact cement or Walther’s Goo, and they don’t come up. As of today, the following structures are going on the peninsula:
I may be able to work with these:
And the following just won’t go:
I need to see what else Jimmy has on his shelves before I etch my decisions in concrete.
Chapter 25 - A Call From Neville
Neville Wilson is from Florida, and back in the 1990’s he was one of the owners of the Pennsy, the Clinchfield, and the Cactus Valley. He saw my listing on E-Bay for the Clinchfield layout, and is interested in buying it back. In fact, it has been his plan to re-acquire the Clinchfield for several years, and has been collecting locomotives and rolling stock for it. He also had several original pieces of rolling stock that he held back from the person he sold the layout to.
Neville, who owned a hobby shop back then, was able to piece together the odyssey that these layouts have been on over the years. It seems that Neville bought the Pennsy from The Greenberg Shows. They were nice enough to deliver it to his door. He had no room for it, and it spent some time in a friend’s living room. He sold it to a client who in turn sold it to an Irish gentleman in Naples, Florida, who sold it to Jimmy.
The Clinchfield was awarded as a first place prize in a contest by Model Railroader to a man in Jacksonville, Florida who lived in a mobile home. Gordon Odegard and another MR editor rented a van, and drove the layout to the guy’s house from Wisconsin. He displayed it in his living room for a short while until the IRS caught up with him and wanted the prize tax. He sold it for peanuts to a client of Neville’s who in turn sold it to Neville for a combination of cash and merchandise. Neville displayed the layout in his store until he decided to close shop and attend college. He sold the layout to another client who sold it to the Irish man in Naples who by this time also owned the Cactus Valley. Jimmy negotiated a deal for all three layouts, and brought back to Massachusetts two that had been built here by Dave Frary.
Neville has four more days before the end of the auction. We’ll see how badly he wants the Clinchfield back. Kind of an incestuous hobby isn’t it?
Because I have all sorts of free time on my hands, I decided to make a DVD entitled “Building Craftsman Structure Kits”. I initially proposed the idea over a year ago to my niece’s husband who is a cameraman for a Boston area news station. He liked it right away, but because of his schedule, we weren’t able to start it until this past April. We just finished it last week.
I had no idea what went into making a video, but let me tell you, it’s an extensive process. We shot over 14 hours of footage for a 1 hour and 20 minute DVD. The editing process alone took three weeks.
Although I’m a ham, it took some getting used to as far as being on-camera was concerned. I’m still not sure I’m used to it. The blooper reel is pretty funny and fairly extensive.
Dick Elwell was gracious enough to allow us to shoot quite a bit of footage on his layout which we have used at the beginning and end of the DVD. Many of my kits are on his layout, and if you buy a DVD (hint…not subtle) you’ll get to see them as well as some never-before-seen footage of the Hoosac Valley Lines.
After 14 years of working the shows with Bob Van Gelder, and answering countless hundreds of questions regarding the kits we sell, and the techniques we employ, I thought this was a great idea. The DVD is designed for someone who has never built a craftsman structure kit, but has many techniques that will be useful for more advanced modelers. George Sellios and Bob have both graciously agreed to promote the DVD on their websites with a link to my E-Bay Store. I’m working on a webpage, but it’s not ready yet. I’ll be doing some train shows in Massachusetts, and if this thing works out, may venture out of state.
Chapter 27 - Many Suitors, But Only One Proposal
I get several calls and e-mails regarding the sale of the Clinchfield layout. Some of them are worth passing on here. A Gentleman from eastern Tennessee called (very severe accent…think Gary Cooper as Sergeant York) and told me in no uncertain terms that he and his wife would do anything to acquire the layout. He labored on for 45 minutes about how much he loved and wanted the layout, and how much he will love and take care of it once it is his. I was getting scared. He has a plan for picking it up, and wants to know if I can hold it for him until January. I tell him that all is required is to send me a bank check for $5,000.00 and I’ll stop the auction, and the layout will be his. “Well,” he says, “Momma’s dying.” I’m not sure what poor momma has to do with the Clinchfield, but he tells me that momma has about 10 days before she goes to the great train show in the sky, and he wouldn’t be able to send me the necessary funds until after that. I don’t know for sure, but I couldn’t help but think that momma’s life insurance check was going to buy the Clinchfield. Damn, that’s hardcore.
And then I blow it. I’ve been a little busy this week, and as a result, I forget the exact time that the E-Bay auction ends. Another gentleman has been trying to connect with me for a few days. He is the head of a railroad museum in rural, central North Carolina; very close to Clinchfield country. He and his fellow museum members are about to embark on the construction of a layout, but he sees the Clinchfield, and decides that this is the layout they need.
He finally calls, and I tell him that the auction ends around 5:00 p.m. He has to try to track down the museum’s benefactor, and he tells me that he’ll take it for the “Buy It Now” price of $7,500.00. He has about six hours. Except he doesn’t really. Come to find out, the auction ended around 11:45 a.m., and a gentleman from Virginia walks away with the Clinchfield for the $5,000.00 reserve price. I lose $2,500.00. I owned the railroad for about three months, and ran a train once. I didn’t even get the rolling stock that went with it until last week.
Chapter 28 - Trackwork on the New Peninsula
After I got back from Jimmy’s house last week on another foraging trip for additional structures, Jimmy called to say that the turnouts and rail joiners had just been delivered to his house, instead of mine. He and Jacynta are going to take a ride down to bring them to me. Finally I can knock out the trackwork on this thing. It’s rainy and chilly, and Jacynta has worked all day, so I’m sure the last thing she wants to do is drive 40 minutes to my house and stand around while Jimmy and I talk trains.
But time is precious as the days grow shorter, and my garage grows colder. The sooner I can finish this peninsula, the sooner I can get everything shipped to Jimmy, then finish what’s left there. The final wiring, and hiding the joints in the new benchwork will be done at his house.
So Jimmy and Jacynta leave my house at about 9:00 p.m. I put in another three hours of work on the track and get a good chunk of it done before heading off to bed. The next morning is another rainy, crappy day, and I spend it in the garage, bending over the benchwork, driving little track nails into cork and plywood with a pair of needle nosed pliers. By the end of the day, my hand is red and sore, but the trackwork is done except for two siding that require backordered turnouts. They’ll have to wait for Walthers. I probably could shave three weeks off this project if I didn’t have to wait for product to come in.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
It’s 5:30 a.m. and all I can hear is the pounding of torrential rain outside my bedroom windows. It’s still dark out, and will be for another hour and a half, but I’m awake for the day. I can hear my wife downstairs on the treadmill. She has a half hour head start on me.
Today is the day we move the two original sections of the Pennsy back to Jimmy’s house. We’ve postponed it for three weeks due to weather, and unavailability of trucks, and lack of people to help, but there’s no putting it off any longer. I wonder how the hell we’re going to pull this off as I listen to the sound of the rain hitting the windows like the crash of small rocks. It’s going to be a long day…a long, wet day.
It has been raining for nine days straight, with the hardest rain falling over the past three days. Most of the area rivers have escaped their banks, and in some places, people have had to be evacuated. Several roads are flooded and impassable. I drive Pat to work at 9:00 a.m., and the water is still rising across the roads.
I stop at Staples on the way home to see if they sell rolls of clear plastic so I can wrap up the layout to keep it from getting soaked. They don’t. Next I stop at the UPS store. The closest thing they have are mattress bags for moving. I pick up six king-sized bags for $31.00. Another rip off. It’s just plastic.
Jacynta and her brother Jim pull up in a large U-Haul followed by Jimmy and his aide Angie and her son, and Mark and Tom, relatives of Jimmy. So there’s seven of us altogether. Jacynta backs the truck into the driveway, and leaves about two feet from the garage to the back of the truck. We won’t have it so easy when we get to Jimmy’s house. We’ll have to carry the layout up a steep, wet hill, then turn it on it side and carry it through his basement door. All this has to be done in the pouring rain as fast as possible without getting the layout too wet, and without getting hurt. No small task. I envision people losing their footing on the wet grass, and they and the layout go flying.
I give them a brief rundown of how I think the move should go. We wrap the largest of the sections in plastic, and the seven of us lift on cue and walk the section to the back of the truck. We lift it overhead to the height of the truck bed and slide it forward. It moves relatively easy, and seven people make light work of the heavy section.
There’s no way to get the second section in the truck though. It just won’t fit. It’s clear that a second trip will be needed. This is bad news because the weather is lousy, and with a big truck and lots a rain, we can expect to add a lot of time to the project. The fine folks at the truck rental center informed Jimmy this morning that the 24-foot truck he requested had broken down, and he’d have to rent the 19-footer. If we had the 24, we’d need only one trip. I still say I’m in the wrong business.
So with the 16-foot section loaded on the truck, we head for Jimmy’s. I wish I had something more interesting to report here, but the section arrived safely, and we get it into the basement without incident. It looks great in his finished train room. Jacynta painted the sky backdrop and did an outstanding job. I wonder if I can convince her to paint another 280 feet of backdrop in my cellar?
We drive back to my house for the second section. We decide to take a brief detour to pick up my wife at work. Only, the road to get to where she is, is closed due to flooding, and the detour adds another 45 minutes to the trip. Jacynta and her brother are waiting in my driveway.
We load the second section as the rain continues to fall. I’m not needed to unload this section at Jimmy’s as it’s about half the size of the first, so my moving day is done. Jimmy sends me an e-mail letting me know that the second section arrived safely, and also went in without problems. I just got another e-mail from him saying that he had a hard time leaving his cellar last night. He feels like a kid at Christmas. Mission accomplished.
Chapter 30 - Placing the Structures
The single hardest aspect of this project has been finding a home for all the craftsman structure kits that Jimmy wants to incorporate. A model railroad is a finite space with infinite possibilities, and settling on the exact locations is time consuming and frustrating. We’re also dealing with the realization that these structures do not blend with the original structures on the original portion of the Pennsy.
As I mentioned earlier, Jimmy wants a place to display these structures, and it’s the job of the team to make them work. The two structures he is most adamant about are Wilfred Bramble, and Fox Run Milling. Bramble is a squat little building on a sprawling diorama. Its siding is on a trestle, which adds an elevation change to the equation. Fox Run also has some elevation changes as well as a road that changes grade.
Jim Corcoran and I have an idea where they have to go, and position Bramble inside the mainline tracks at the end of the peninsula inside the loops, and place Fox Run to the left of it just before the yard lead on the left side of the peninsula. Both structures have to be elevated though in order to make them feasible from a scenic standpoint. Bramble is raised about 2 ½” above the lowest track level, and Fox Run moves up about 1 ¾”. By doing this, we can tie the roads together that exist on each diorama. Also, by doing this, the lowest elevations on the dioramas are at the lowest track levels on the layout therefore allowing a clear view of both structures.
Jim and I find homes for several other structures including G. Wilikers, Rollin Sawyer Chemical , Sewell’s Foundry, Emporium Seafood, Weary Willy’s, and South River’s Thorndike Mills.
There are more that we need to try to shoehorn in, and the clock is ticking. It’s mid-November now, and we’ve already have some sub-freezing nights. It’s time to kick it into high gear.
Chapter 31 - David Slays Goliath
Jimmy and his assistant Angie stop by last Friday to drop of a few small structures, and pick up the Whitney & Bent Diorama that I borrowed from him to display at a train show I participate in a couple of weekends ago. In the box with the structures is Dexter’s Dead End, which at first I think Jimmy must want me to build for him. It turns out it’s a gift…a much appreciated gift at that.
Jimmy’s a thoughtful guy who is cognizant of the effort I’ve put into this project. This is one of his ways of saying “thanks”. He’s taken some heat lately on the Internet forums from people who continue to blame him for the price that craftsman kits fetch on the secondary market. They foolishly think he is responsible for inflating the market. In fact, it is the buyers in these auctions that drive up the prices. Unfortunately, there are some out there, that due to their financial situation, cannot afford to buy craftsman kits, so they resent those that can. Well, I drive a 1996 Nissan Pathfinder with 180,000 miles on it. I would desperately like to buy a new car, but I can’t afford it right now. However, I don’t begrudge those people who are out there driving new cars just because I’m not.
If anything, Jimmy should be praised for creating a business where hobbyists can find out-of-production craftsman kits. In any case, the bottom line is, if you don’t like what he does, then just don’t buy from him. There are plenty of people who appreciate what he does, so those that don’t won’t be hurting his business. Just don’t give me a bunch of crap about driving up the market, when you can’t afford the kits in the first place. It’s not fair to Jimmy.
Anyway…
Jimmy sends me an e-mail, and asks me if I’d like him to see if Dave Frary would like to join our team. Are you kidding? That answer is a resounding “yes”. Jimmy calls Dave, and Dave calls me. Arrangements are made, and Dave gives me a punch list of things Jim and I have to finish before we can begin the scenery.
So, Jim and I are getting together today to install the fascia board, tweak the trackwork, and trace around the structures so we can move them to a safe location while the scenery is built. The prospect of wrapping this project up before the end of the year just improved.
Chapter 32 - Say Goodbye to Hollywood
David Fugate and his wife Crystal are the new owners of the Clinchfield layout. There from Fredericksburg, Virginia, and are looking forward to people calling them all the time to ask to see the layout…only kidding.
They leave Virginia on Friday, and drive to a friends house in Philadelphia. He calls me on Saturday morning around 9:30 to tell me they’re just leaving and should be at my house around 7:00 p.m. Hello??? It’s only a six hour drive from Philly to Franklin. He tells me that they’ll probably stop for dinner, and since it isn’t as long as they anticipated, should be at my house around 6:00.
Geez…very nice people who drive incredibly slow.
At 6:00 my phone rings. It’s David. He’s in Connecticut. I tell him he’s about 1 hour and 15 minutes away, and I’ll see him at 7:15. He pulls into my driveway at 8:30. It’s dark and it’s cold outside. David is driving a van. This is not good news. I have my doubts that the layout can fit inside.
I explain my concerns to David, and he tells me he has build a rack system so that two sections can fit on the top, and the other two can fit on the bottom. I screw the sections of the wooden rack together, and we slide it into the van. We disassemble the layout and carry it outside. We put the first end section inside, and it’s clear right away that all four pieces won’t fit. He needs a bigger truck.
We get three sections in, and decide that best course of action is to stay overnight in a local motel, then try to rent a U-Haul-it trailer in the morning. He calls me in the morning to let me know he found a trailer. We meet up so I can lead him to the U-Haul dealer. We make it back to my house, and load the last section of the Clinchfield into the back of the trailer, wedged in by luggage. It’s 11:30 on Sunday morning, and the Fugates have to drive back to Virginia today. It’s Thursday morning, and I haven’t heard from him yet…they may still be driving.
I have visions of the Clinchfield strewn all over I-95. I’m glad they paid for it up front.
Chapter 33 - Dave, Jim and Scott’s Excellent Adventure
Thursday, December 1, 2005
It’s still dark outside…well, it’s not quite light out. I can’t really tell because my head is buried in a pillow, and I refuse to look up. We got home from Florida at 1:30 a.m. the day before, and I’m still wiped out.
In the distance, I hear a train horn. Jim Corcoran has started his workday. It’s got to be 6:15. I roll over and look at the alarm clock. It’s 6:15 on the nose. Jim is the engineer on that train, and he’s on his way to Boston on time as usual. He’ll be at my house in five hours.
Dave’s coming over today to work on the layout with us. I’m excited at the prospect of having another team member, and I’m doubly excited that it’s my friend Dave, who built the original Pennsy…who better. I’m hoping Dave will provide the motivation I need to get this project wrapped up before the end of the year.
Dave pulls up at 8:30 on the button. He unloads several crates of scenery material, and places them in the garage next to the layout. I’ve got some trackwork that still needs to be done, and Dave jumps right in by weaving strips of cardboard to create the superstructure of a ridge. Within an hour, the scenery is taking shape.
Dave plans for a waterfall and river to cascade between the two featured structures on the peninsula…Wilfred Brambel and Fox Run Milling. We work out the location of the roads, and discuss the schedule of events for the upcoming weeks. Jim arrives around lunchtime, and after we eat, we head back to the garage. Jim and I spend the rest of the afternoon working on the fascia board while Dave continues to weave his cardboard web.
By the end of the day, Dave has all the cardboard for the scenery, roughed in, and Jim and I have got about half the fascia board in place.
Dave arrives right on time Friday morning, and gets to work by soaking plaster gauze, and placing it in staggered fashion on the cardboard web. I’m having a great time watching him work, and am trying to soak up as much information as possible (no pun intended).
By the end of the day, he has the cardboard covered, and has begun cutting out foam rocks, and hot gluing them to the plaster. The river is in place, complete with waterfall. I can really see what Dave is thinking.
On Monday, Dave roughs in all the roads, while yours truly covers the gauze with a thick layer of Sculptamold. It takes all day to spread the Sculptamold, but it helps smooth out the hills, and provides a solid base on which to plant trees, bushes etc…
When the Sculptamold has dried, Dave and I break out the paintbrushes and cover the raw surface with an earth colored paint. Dave gives the foam rocks a coat of black paint. He explains that all his rock coloring techniques start with black paint. I’m anxious to see the finished product. Jim continues his work on the fascia board. He also works his way along the trackwork to make sure everything is smooth.
Thursday, is likely to be Dave’s last day of work this week as we’re expecting a foot of snow on Friday morning. Dave has about an hour’s drive from his house on Cape Cod, and I don’t want him traveling in bad weather. Before he calls it a day on Thursday, he shows me a technique he has just invented. The clumsy oaf dumps a peanut butter jar full of earth colored paint all over the track, the floor and himself. He has been threatening to so this all day. In fact, he dropped an empty jar about an hour before. I guess that was the dress rehearsal.
He follows his now popular “paint spilling” technique with two more episodes of paint pallet dumping on my garage floor. Dave’s legacy will remain in my garage long after he has returned to the “Rock” (Cape Cod).
By the time he hits the road, late in the afternoon, he has begun to spread ground foam on the hills, and color the rocks. I spend about an hour Thursday night spray painting the track, much to the chagrin of my wife and children who are offended by the stench of Floquil paint. I don’t like it either, but it’s too cold to open the garage doors, and it has to be done.
Friday brings the expected snowfall, and Dave stays at home. When we re-convene on Tuesday, we’ll finish the fascia board, then Dave can start to rough in the scenery along the edges of the peninsula. I e-mail Jimmy to let him know that he needs to start thinking about a moving truck around the week of Christmas. We’re making progress.
When I was a kid, I used to watch professional wrestling. I always got a kick out of the scenario where the villain and his buddy lay waste to the poor, defenseless, unconscious good guy in the middle of the ring while the villains' manager cackles and howls with joy outside the ring. Well, in this project, I feel like the good guy laying in the middle of the ring. Frary, and that thick-headed Irishman Corcoran are the villains. They are managed by the fiendish Dick Elwell, who although he is not here much, is cackling and howling with joy from his perch, outside the ring in Adams , MA . Classy Freddie Blassie and the Vachon brothers have nothing on these three. Here's what they do, they wait and they watch. They wait for me to do something remotely controversial, and then they pounce. Yesterday was a perfect example. Gorgeous George (Frary) hands me a caulking gun loaded with Liquid Nails to fill some gaps in the scenery. When I was done with the tube that was in the gun, I replaced it with a fresh tube. I cut the end like I always do, but nothing came out…nothing. I squeezed until I evidently turned red from the effort. Gorgeous sees this and comes to the rescue, using the side of the gun to cut another opening. The adhesive comes out. I return to my assigned task, and forget about it. “GG” doesn't forget though. George the Animal Steele (Corcoran) arrives after lunch and starts running the main bus wire around the peninsula. Everyone is getting along swimmingly, or so I think. I leave to pick up my youngest daughter at school at 2:30 , and return to work 10 minutes later. I'm cutting out a small section of scenery where a structure will go, and making a chore out of cutting through the Sculptamold. “The Animal” looks at me, and ask me if I'm having a hard time. I tell him the Sculptamold is tough to cut. “Just like the tube of Liquid Nails,” he says as he breaks into hysterics. I give “GG” a dirty look for selling me out, but he doesn't care. He's rolling on the floor because he thinks it's soooooo funny. A regular Martin and Lewis, these two. This is how it goes folks. The good news is that we're getting close to the end. We're awaiting fuzzy balls from Jimmy's assistants, but otherwise, most of the scenery is done. Dave should finish his duties by the end of the year. Jim and I will need a few weeks at Jimmy's house to get the four pieces together, and hide the joints. Dick will come in and wire the DCC. My first train set was a Christmas present given to me by a friend of the family. It was actually two complete used sets of 1950's era Lionel trains with enough track and switches to build a good-sized layout. I played with it on the floor of our basement for a while, then smashed the crap out of it with a hammer. I didn't like the third rail. I didn't get my next train set until eight years later. My father was instrumental in fostering my love of this hobby. He built my first layout, the ubiquitous 4' x 8', and made sure I received enough train-related Christmas presents each year to keep me going until the next Christmas. I used to love to listen to him tell stories about when he was young. He grew up in the 1920's and 30's and lived in a town that was dominated by the New Haven Railroad. A coal dealer was two buildings down from the house he grew up in, and he told of playing on top of the loaded hoppers. Needless to say, you couldn't do that today. I suspect my Grandmother wasn't to keen on it then either. More than anything, my father loved Christmas. It was a time for him to shine, and he rarely let me down. When I was 11, all I wanted was a 10-speed bike. I began to pester my parents in May, and by the time fall rolled around, I'm sure they had had enough. They convinced me that I was too small and too young for such a bike, and to pretty much put it out of my head. I went to bed on Christmas Eve convinced that only a miracle would deliver that bike to my house. Inspection of the family living room early the next morning proved my fears were correct, no bike. I opened my presents, which I'm sure were nice, although I cannot remember what they were, and reached for my stocking. On top was an envelope addressed to me. Inside was a letter from a man named Frank Incense (one of my father's many Christmas characters). The letter told of Three Wise Men who were on their way to Bethlehem to bring gifts to a baby. He mentioned that this baby was the reason we celebrated Christmas (a reminder that might be valuable today). The letter asked for my help as the Three Wise Men had become lost in their journey. If I were up to it, I should “proceed to the room decorated in “Early Modern Dump” otherwise known as your bedroom, where you will find additional instructions under the empty wastebasket”. The letter cautioned me to not waste any time by deciding to fill the wastebasket with the trash that filled my room, although Frank Incense considered that presumptuous on his part. Under the wastebasket was another letter. This letter provided an update as to the progress of the Wise Men. They had become confused, as the only directions they had were to follow a star. My instructions were clearer. After being congratulated for completing the first phase of the mission, and not tripping over the clothes on my floor, I was instructed to proceed to the downstairs bathroom, and look behind the toilet for my next instructions. I was cautioned not to linger too long there, as I might be confused with someone on another type of mission. The letter behind the toilet said that the Three Wise Men had completed their journey, and delivered their gifts to the baby. The baby's parents were especially thankful because they didn't expect any presents for their child (kinda like me). The letter directed me to the toaster in the kitchen where I would learn the “real reason” for this mission. It was signed, “Merry Christmas, Frank Incense”. Behind the toaster was a Polaroid photo of the bike in my cellar. Although my dad has been gone for almost 12 years, and that Christmas Day was over 30 years ago, I'll never forget the look of joy on my parents' faces as they watched my scavenger hunt unfold on that morning. The memory of that Christmas, and many others like it have become folklore in my house. I share these stories with my children, and help them create their own Christmas memories that they can pass down to their children, and to me, that's the true spirit of the season. Merry Christmas, Scott. Chapter 36 Sweating the Details Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - Dave Frary works fast, but I'm certain that comes from many years of building model railroad scenery. I don't work as fast, but I'm having an easier time visualizing the scenery as we progress. Dave arrives at 8:35 each morning and goes right to work. His work ethic is contagious, and he's managed to keep my enthusiasm for this project at a high level. I watch his every move because I know that people have paid good money to see what I'm learning for free. He makes something out of nothing, all the while telling stories of his many adventures in the hobby. It makes for an enjoyable day despite my aching feet. I won't go into detail about his techniques, as he has agreed to write a few chapters for this diary. I've also asked Jim Corcoran and Jim Deignan to contribute their thoughts about this project. I'll be excited to read what they write. In any case, all the structures that we can use are in place, and all of the basic scenery is complete with the exception of the roundhouse area. It doesn't look like I'll have the roundhouse done before the layout moves to Jimmy's house. I'm being held up by the turntable manufacturer who is quickly burning a bridge. The latest word is that I should have the turntable sometime this week. Well, tomorrow is Friday, and I ain't seen it yet! Since Martha abandoned me, I'm forced to work on the fuzzy balls. Jimmy's assistant made about 500 balls, and I have been dunking them in the foulest smelling diluted matte medium you could imagine. Dave brought it from home, and according to him, “it's the good stuff”. Oh yeah, it's good alright, if you like the smell of stanky, rancid feet. It's bad enough I have to partake in this tedium. The odor is enough to drive anyone out of the garage. Dave seems to like it though. Come to think of it, it kind of smells like bilge water, and since Dave has spent many years on a lobster boat, the smell probably brings back memories. Dave brought in some material that he used for the armatures of the hardwood trees on the original Pennsy. He says they come from a place outside of San Diego , and he's down to his last 100 or so. They make nice trees, but they too must be dunked in the “bucket-o-stench” and then covered in foam. I do all the trees he has, and set them on a sheet of Styrofoam for later use. Yesterday I start gluing the fuzzy balls to the hills. I may never be the same. It takes me a couple of hours to do about a two square foot area, or about 1/10th of the total space that needs balls. Dave plants trees and finishes the roads. He also builds a nifty wharf area for Emporium Seafood out of rubber retaining wall castings. I tie in the siding, and the area is ready for water and a few fishing boats. The Susquehanna River is alive. Maybe Dave can figure out a way to capture the matte medium stench for the river. Jim Corcoran has been working feverishly under the layout, running wires and dropping feeders. Even though we're using a DCC system, Jim feels better knowing that each section of track has power. I work with him in the afternoon to solder each of the leads to the track. The work goes pretty quickly, but takes its toll on both our backs. Jim is sore from crawling underneath the low benchwork, and I'm aching from bending over to work on the surface. Before he leaves, he connects the power pack and runs a locomotive around the entire peninsula, and onto each siding. Thursday, December 29, 2005 - Dave returns, and goes right to work on the finished scenery. I start ballasting the yard tracks on the other side of the peninsula. For me it's tedious work because I want the ballast to be perfect. I have a vision of what the yard tracks and siding should look like. I sift some clay that I collect from a local Little League diamond, and put the fine powder in a separate container. I use the coarse material to fill in the voids in the roadbed in the yard, and the siding that goes to Fox Run Milling. This material is perfect for this because it's cheap, and there's plenty of it. Next, I take the fine clay and sprinkle it between and alongside the rails, and bring it up to the top of the ties. I brush it out until I'm happy with the look. Then I take some fine cinders…almost dust, and sprinkle it on top of the clay. This material is a dark, slate gray color. I find some rust colored fine ballast and spread just a little along the siding, then finally add a little bit of coal to represent overflow from a tender. When I'm happy with the look, I wet everything thoroughly with a sprayer filled with water and detergent. Then, I fill a bulb syringe with diluted matte medium…not the stinky stuff thankfully, and gently dribble it over the ground cover until everything is soaked. I try not to touch the ballast after I put down the glue, but some touch up work always needs to be done. It takes me all day to ballast half the mainline and a few yard tracks. Dave has ballasted some of the tracks on the other side, and maybe tomorrow I'll finish the rest. Dave rebounds after suffering another case of the dropsy's this morning by knocking over a Styrofoam cup filled with matte medium all over the track. He's brutal. Never let him hold your children. The good news is that he spilled it in the same spot he dumped the paint last week. Jimmy designed a new website for me. It advertises my DVD, and showcases some of my work. It also has this diary within it's pages. The URL is: www.scottymason.com . Jimmy did a great job in putting everything together for me. While I consider myself computer literate, I neither had the time nor desire to build a webpage, so Jimmy was a Godsend. The site is a work in progress, and will be updated on a regular basis to reflect additions to the Diary as well as new projects I'm working on. We're also planning for the next DVD which we hope to have out by late Spring or early Summer…stay tuned. Chapter 38 Looking for Mr. Newcomb Last week I mentioned that my father was one of the driving forces in fostering my interests in this hobby. The other person who played a key role was a gentleman by the name of Jim Newcomb. Mr. Newcomb ran a small model railroad shop out of his basement called The Green Caboose, and specialized in the things that most full-service hobby shops didn't carry. His shelves were stocked with craftsman items, and he always had a number of brass locomotives behind glass. My dad would drive me over to his house on weekends, and Mr. Newcomb would teach me about the benefits of esoteric but essential items such as Kadee couplers, and hand laid track. My level of sophistication grew rapidly at an early age. I quickly got away from the frustrations of snap track and Tyco locomotives. Mr. Newcomb was responsible for helping my father procure many of the Christmas presents I received in those years. He was always patient in answering my many dumb questions, and spent several hours teaching me to hand lay turnouts…an art I have still not mastered despite his efforts. His hand laid track was the best I have ever seen. His tolerances were so precise that there was no wheel drop when a car rolled through a turnout. The first craftsman structure kit I ever built was a Campbell Supply Shed that I bought in his shop. When I was in high school, he and his family moved to France for two years on business. He returned for a short while, but soon left the area. I had heard recently that he moved to Ohio , and was no longer in the hobby…too bad, he was one of the good ones. This Sunday starts a new year, and while I'm not one to make resolutions, I want to spend some time in 2006 making sure that the people who have helped and befriended me over the years, know how grateful I am. I think I'll try to locate Jim Newcomb and start with him. To all of you who have read this ongoing saga, and put up with the errant ramblings of a madman; thank you for your support and encouragement. I've appreciated all the feedback. I wish all of you and your families a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year. Happy New Year Scott Editor's note: I have asked each of the Team members to write a chapter or two about their experiences on this project. I figure it's better than reading my constant B.S. Anyway, here's the first contribution to the war effort. Chapter 39 The Boss Fills in for Scott By Jim Deignan Right a chapter for the Diary? Who me? I'm no righter as you'll soon be able to tell. Scott has a point though. I should take a few minutes to tell the story from my side. I need to defend myself from the shots I've taken. It's taken Scott 38 chapters to tell the story so far. I can't possibly tell it in one, especially if I keep going on like this. If you haven't read the story of how I acquired the Pennsy layout, be sure to read it. I've been told it's good reading, much like this Diary. My big plans for the Pennsy were put on hold May 3, 2003 , when I crashed my four-day old Harley Davidson motorcycle into a guardrail at 60 miles per hour. That really hurt, or it must have. I really don't remember. The front tire blew out. I lost my leg, and literally broke every bone in my body. Now I'm paralyzed from the chest down. I wasn't supposed to live. That's all I can say. During eight long months in the hospital, my wife Cyn, had to sell many of the things we worked so hard to get. That included our house. It wouldn't be possible to make it accessible for me and my wheelchair. I loved that house. She sold the “ Cactus Valley ”, a 4' x 8' HO layout Dave Frary built for Model Railroader Magazine. I loved that layout. She sold my business, my cars, my cross country skis, my downhill skis and my jet ski. I loved them all too. Cyn didn't sell the Clinchfield, the layout that was featured in the very first issue of Model Railroader that I ever bought. I'm not sure why she didn't sell it. I couldn't play with it anymore.. The Clinchfield requires you to bend down and crawl underneath it to operate. It wasn't made for a guy in a wheelchair. Cyn didn't sell the Pennsy either. I'm not sure why she didn't sell it. I couldn't play with it anymore either. The Pennsy was U-shaped, and my wheelchair wouldn't fit in the middle, or so I thought. Enter Scott Mason. Scott built a few South River Modelworks kits for me. We talked about restoring the Pennsy in exchange for the Clinchfield. That works for me. We discuss what needs to be done to make the Pennsy “handicapped accessible.” This would be the first layout I know of that was designed around a wheelchair…sort of. Half of the layout is already built. The new half would be added, splitting the original, and making wider aisles. Bob Leonard was one of the many people who sent me great ideas for a trackplan for the new peninsula. He somehow knew exactly what I wanted. I talked it over with Scott, and he agreed the plan was everything we talked about in the beginning. It had a yard, a roundhouse, switching, and a place to put all the built kits I accumulated. I'm excited as can be when Scott sends me a few pictures of the progress on the restoration portion of The Pennsy. The placement of three structures, FSM's Bailey's Produce, Jeffries Point, and a BIS 630 Elm Street kit are placed on the layout. They look incredible. I can't wait to see it in person. At this point I'm thinking of an excuse to go to Scott's. I probably don't need one, but I don't want to be a pain in the butt. For the past 6 months I've been making excuses to visit. Dragging my wife down to Scott's late on a Friday evening because I have something Scott needs right away is one example. Scott keeps me informed of the progress as things are finishing up, and advises me that it's time to plan on the move of Part One to my basement. I call my friends who are always eager to help. I reserve a rental truck, but I have to cancel the move twice due to U-Haul's failure to keep a reservation. The day finally comes. My team of volunteers and I head south. It doesn't bother me that it's pouring rain. I'm too excited to even notice. We pull up to Scott's house, and I see the completed sections in the garage. I begin to cry. I'm kidding. It looks marvelous. I could cry. Everyone with me oooh's and aaah's. They aren't model railroaders, but they love what they see. The move takes about eight hours. I told them they'd be home by noon . We didn't finish until 4:00 p.m. My layout is home and it looks better than I could have ever imagined. I spend the next few hours staring at it. I so want to run trains. Dave Frary sends me an e-mail. He has been to Scott's and seen the work that has begun on the new peninsula. The layout looks great he says. I start thinking how much I'd like Dave to take part in the construction of the new peninsula. I ask Scott if he'd like Dave to help out. He says yes. Dave is the newest member of the Team. I head down a few more times as the peninsula takes shape. I can't believe how fast the progress is going. With each visit comes more excitement for the finished project. The trackwork is 80-percent done, and a few structures are placed. This will be my last visit to Scott's. I'm going to be out of commission for a while. On November 17 th , I had to go into U-Mass Hospital for an operation to remove an infected section of muscle tissue, skin and bone. Tail bone. Yup, my butt. I'm in the hospital for six days. That's the good news. The bad news is I can't get up for 8-10 weeks while the tissue and muscle heal. I mean I can't get up. I have to lie down. No sitting up whatsoever. I couldn't care less about trains. I want to sit up. I have been horizontal for five weeks as I write this. It's a long day lying flat on your back, let me tell you. Doing things like Scott's website helps pass the time. I've been watching Jerry Springer on TV. Where does he find his guests? I see the first pictures in over a month on the Railroad Lines Forum. Scott posted them just before Christmas. The pictures renew my desire to see the layout I've owned for so long, actually operate. It's a wonderful present. Dave and Scott are hard at work. The peninsula is taking shape. Again, I could cry. This morning I'm told the peninsula is almost ready. “Plan on the first weekend in January,” Scott says. Not bad I think. Way back in June he says the layout should be ready around Christmas. How's that for keeping right on schedule? Scott never ceases to amaze me. Scott knows a lot of people, and to the ones who've helped out on this project, I say thank you. Scott's wife Pat, His kids, Jim Corcoran, Dave Frary, Bob Leonard, Rich Josselyn, and Dick Elwell who has volunteered to wire the DCC, and others I'm sure I forgot to mention. I'll write another chapter when the layout is finished. By the way, I know right from write! Jimmy Chapter 40 Scenery for the "Son of Pennsy" By Dave Frary I had mixed feelings when Scott asked me write about building scenery on the Pennsy addition. All of the methods and materials have been written about in other forms including the Pennsy series which appeared in Model Railroader in 1993, the Pennsy book Kalmbach published from the series, and from several different scenery books I've written since the Pennsy was built. My newest book How to Build Realistic Model Railroad Scenery - 3rd Revision, describes everything in detail. But, as Scott mentioned to me, some modelers are new or just don't pay attention, so why not tell the story? So here, dear reader, is the Reader's Digest version of scenery building on the Son of Pennsy. My job on any scenery building project is to quickly evaluate just what the customer wants and build it. This does not involve any gut-wrenching or soul searching. I talk to the customer, look at prototype photos, plan out the scenic theme, and go to work. For the Son of Pennsy all this front-end work was already done. I built and wrote about the original Pennsy back in the early 1990's. A lot of model railroad scenery has come and gone since then but I believed I had a good handle on what the original looked like after all these years, what grass colors, textures, rock colors, tree types, and water methods were used. As it turned out my old memory failed me! I arrived at Scott Mason's garage in early December without a plan. I looked at his bench and trackwork, made a few suggestions as to what he had to do before I could do my thing and left. About a week later Scott and Jim had completed most of the chores so we set a date and started the scenery. I used cardboard strips from Micro Mark covered with Scenic Express Plaster Wrap. The rocks and retaining walls were all foam castings from Scenic Express. The rocks and walls were painted with my scenery black mixture (2 parts earth mixed with 1 part flat black) while the rest of the scenery was coated with earth colored paint. I use flat indoor wall paint and school-grade acrylics for all my scenery projects. I painted all the foam rocks to try and match the Pennsy's light gray rocks. I like to "paint out" meaning I start with almost black rocks and dry brush them with lighter and lighter colors until I reach the color I'm after. My pallet is always Titanium white, black, Raw Sienna and Raw Umber. If I'm modeling the desert I'll add a Terra Cotta or bright orange. For the Son of Pennsy I used only white, black and umber. I mix the paint on a scrap of cardboard and dry brush it on using a DRY BRUSH. This is important, a wet brush will smear the paint on while a brush with dry bristles will keep the paint sticky and only put a light coat on the textured areas of the casting. The last color on the rocks is white, lightly dry brushed on just the tips of the castings. This is done after the rocks are dry. Down the middle of one end of the layout I built a waterway with a rock pile at one end to represent a waterfall. The waterfall comes out of the middle of the mountain and the water falls into the river where it's carried away on the edge of the layout through 2 large culverts (made from a paper mailing tube cut in half.) The bottom of the river was painted a mixture of Cerulean Blue, black, medium green and white. These colors were stippled together with an old brush (All my brushes are 49 cent China bristle and have been around the World with me. The older they are the better they work. I never throw a brush away unless the bristles are falling out.) Because the layout is in Scott's garage I opted to use gloss mediums and gels instead of 2-part epoxy for the water. The epoxy does not cure at temperatures under 65 degrees! The water will be the very last scenery to be built. The colors of scenic foam I mixed for the basic ground cover were meant to duplicate early fall. I mixed a small amount of green and brown with a lot of yellow, red and orange. This was the basic color for a layout that I remembered from 15 years ago. As Scott reminded me, the first thing to go is your memory and then you can't remember what the second thing is. I was very confident that I had a good handle on the colors. Scott said I was waaay off the mark. He suggested that we take a ride to Jimmy Deignan's to look at the original Pennsy. Boy was he correct! The original layout was a lot more green than I had remembered. so back to Scott's to remix the basic colors. "More green," I kept saying to myself, "more green." I painted the scenery shell with diluted white glue and sprinkled on the newly remixed foam blend. I covered the hillsides and all the flat areas except where roads and structures would be. After the foam was in place I wet the scenery and sprayed on dilute matte medium to hold everything in place. For the roads I used .60 sheet styrene cut to fit and hot glued in place. This was covered with sifted baseball diamond clay over wet paint. The clay is trapped by the painted and gives tar roads a nice texture. After the paint dries I give the roads another coat to seal in the clay. Scott will finish the roads with gray chalk powder to match the color of the original. About 6 large structures were added to the layout while the track was being laid. Some were on plywood bases and became a permanent part of the layout before the scenery was started. Working around these structures was not easy. The rest of the structures were glued in place as the scenery progressed. As fast as the structures were placed we added detail around them. Now I'm working on adding the background and foreground trees, weeds, shrubs and all the other scenery details. This is the most time consuming part of the project because each square inch has to be accounted for. So this is where the project stands to date. We've been very lucky that it's not been too cold to work in the garage. Standing for 6 or 8 hours on a cold cement floor is no fun. Happy New Year everyone! Chapter 41 Requiem for a Fuzzy Ball No wonder why Martha Stewart didn't want anything to do with this. Making fuzzy balls stinks. While Dave handles the glory work…planting trees, making water, basically finishing the scenes, I'm over in the corner with rubber gloves on, making fuzzy balls by the hundreds. Jimmy's nurses made about five hundred balls, and I offer to take the rest of the bags home with me, figuring that at this point, it will be easier to make the rest myself than have to drive the 40 minutes to Jimmy's house a few more times to pick up the rest. Besides, I get the sneaking suspicion they don't like making fuzzy balls. Well, anyway, I have about seven more bags to make, and then that should be it. No more rubber gloves, no more diluted matte medium that smells like month-old fermented foot bath water. Jim Corcoran and I had a discussion the other day concerning our expectations, and our vision of what the finished peninsula would look like. We both expressed the feeling that what stands in front of us today, is vastly different from what we had in mind when we laid the track in October. Jim thought the ridgeline would be higher that the foot or so it rises to now. He also noted how affective the height of the ridge really is. I envisioned the ridgeline extending down the length of the peninsula, and ending in a cut at the double-tracked main line. Either of those scenarios would have worked well. Dave's solution to the scenery works very well too. His ridge ends about 2/3rds of the way down the peninsula in a waterfall and river. I wouldn't have thought to do that. That's why he's the God of Scenery, and I'm the God of Fuzzy Balls. Jim is spending his time planting weeds, which is about as tedious as making fuzzy balls. It's amazing how much detail he can add to a scene after a couple of hours. He's finished the yard side of the peninsula, and will be wrapping up the opposite side before the end of the week. I'm working from a punch list too. I need to finish the waterfall area, make about two more bags of fuzzy balls, cut out the area directly under the roundhouse, (the roundhouse is recessed about ½” in the benchwork), brace the fascia board behind the two areas where the two sections meet, and finally cut the fascia board in those two areas (right now the fascia board is one contiguous section). The last things Jim and I need to do is pick up some 1” x 4” pine at the lumber yard, and screw it length-wise to the underside of the benchwork to keep it from racking when it's moved. We'll also use some of that wood to provide bracing for the legs to keep them from buckling. Dave will be back on Friday to tie up his loose ends, and pack up his scenery supplies and tools…kind of like the Cat in the Hat. We'll get back together sometime the following week at Jimmy's house. Right now, the focus is on Saturday the 14 th . That's moving day. Jimmy e-mailed me this morning and let me know that he's able to get out of bed for short periods each day. That's great news. He won't be making the trip to my house Saturday, but he will be able to see the peninsula when we deliver it. Chapter 42 Moving Day Part Three It's déjà vu all over again. The pounding rain, the wind. It's almost as if some spiritual force is throwing one last haymaker to make this project difficult. In fact, the last time it rained this hard was the last time we moved the layout back in early October. The weird thing about today's move is that it's 58-degrees out, and it's January 14 th . I guess I shouldn't complain. It could just as easily be 15-degrees and snowing. In any case, it doesn't matter…today is moving day. For the third and last time a U-Haul is employed to carry the Pennsy the 40 miles between our houses. For the better part of the last seven months, my team and I have labored to bring this historic layout back to life. Today is the last move in the chess match. Yesterday, Dave, Jim, and I got together in my garage to take care of the last few items on the punch list. Although there are several items that remain to be accomplished at Jimmy's, the layout, essentially, is complete. Dave put the finishing touches on the water. Jim made sure the track was clean, and then ran a steam locomotive around. The previous day he ran a diesel, but wanted to acid test the track with a more finicky locomotive. He tweaks and pokes at the track where it is needed, until he is happy with the results. We cut the fascia board where the two sections of the peninsula join. Then we unscrew the two sections and pull the pieces apart. I crawl underneath the long section and attach two 10-foot sections of 1” x 4” to the underside of the layout to keep the benchwork from twisting during the move. The three of us take a minute to toast our accomplishments, and reflect back on the project. We figure we've spent about 1,000 man-hours between the restoration and construction of the new peninsula. The strategy for the move is this, I'll remove the legs on the long section, and we'll set it on mattresses on the floor of the U-Haul. I don't want to take the chance of letting it ride on its legs, and the mattresses will reduce the vibration. There are many expensive structures on the layout, and I want them to stay on the layout. The other reason the legs must be removed is that we won't be able to get the big section through the door into Jimmy's basement with the legs intact. The short, cross-section of the peninsula will keep it legs. It's only 25-inches wide, so it will go through the door with no problem. This morning I get some scrap 1” x 4”'s and screw them to the legs and frame to create bracing. These pieces can be removed once this part of the layout is in place. I have a concern, and it may be a biggie. The back edge of the larger section of the peninsula measures 7' 4” across. We got a little carried away with the scenery, and I forgot that this section has to be turned on its side to fit through the door. The height of the door at Jimmy's is 6' 8”. The only hope is to tilt the leading edge of the layout up as we get it inside the door. Hopefully, this will by us the additional clearance we need to get the rest of it inside. Of course, we also have the rain to contend with, and we don't want to spend too much time outside with the layout, even though it will be wrapped in plastic. Jacynta and her brother Jim pull up in a 24-foot U-Haul at about 10:15 a.m. Behind them are Mark and Tom. They helped during the last move. Jim Corcoran pulls in on their heels. There's six of us, and that should be perfect. We get the largest section wrapped up, and I crawl underneath and detach the legs. We carry the section to the truck, and just barely get it inside. A corner of the layout hits the side of the truck and is damaged. It's nothing we can't fix. We rest it on the mattresses and some pads placed on the wheel wells. The second section is going to be a tight squeeze, but we're able to fit it alongside the large section by removing the center leg. We tie it off to the side of the truck with the only thing we can find…an extension cord. It's going to be a long ride to Jimmy's house. Jim and I take Jim's car, and stop at the hardware store for some carriage bolts. We grab a hamburger at Wendy's, but still manage to pull in to Jimmy's right behind Jacynta who took out a street sign near my house while backing up the truck. We bring in the smaller section, and we slide it into place between the two existing layout sections. I crawl underneath and bolt the three sections together. Now for the challenge. We carry the large section out of the truck, and up the steep hill. Jacynta's father Tom takes his place on the side, and we make it up the slope without incident. At the top of the hill, we lift the section on its side, and proceed to the door. With a great deal of relief, the section slides through with no problems. Once we have it inside, we rotate it 180-degrees. The other six hold the layout in the air, as I hustle to re-attach the legs. We push this section back against the smaller section, and I bolt those together. Done. Jimmy gets his first look at the almost-finished layout. He's spent the last two months in bed, recovering from surgery, and is just now able to get up for about a half hour a day. His recuperation has been slow, and he still has a way to go. He seems pleased as he surveys the layout. He tests the aisle widths, and has no problem getting down them, and turning his wheelchair. Now that the new peninsula is attached to the original layout, we get a good look at how close the scenery colors and textures match. We did a pretty good job, and will do some tweaking when Dave and I return on Thursday. Everyone seems impressed with the detail, and all express a desire to come back when the trains are running. For now, I'm satisfied that the hard part is over. We'll need a few weeks to finish, but my two-car garage, is once again a two-car garage. Tomorrow, I'll give it a good cleaning. I'll try to remove the remnants of Dave's unpublished scenery techniques from the floor, and return it to its intended purpose…parking cars. My wife will be thrilled. Chapter 43 Beam Me Up Scotty By Jim Corcoran My name is Jim Corcoran. I'm one of those people who can puts 10-pounds of @#$% in a five-pound bag. At least I thought so. Enter Scott Mason, “can you stop by? I've got a model railroad in my garage that needs refurbishing.” My first thought was, “how much has he had to drink.” followed by, “did the Model Railroad Fairy leave a present?” He then proceeded to tell me the story of Jimmy Deignan. I arrived at Scott's to find the Pennsy, but it wasn't the Model Railroad Fairy who had been there, it was the Dust Fairy, and by all accounts, she had a massive case of diarrhea! I could tell that The Pennsy had had a very hard life over the last 10 years. I calmly looked Scott in the eyes and said, “Are you out of your mind?” Well, I'm sure by now, we all know the answer to that question. Getting back to my five-pound bag…I'm a locomotive engineer. I work a split shift. In the summer, my off hours are spent working on my golf game. In the winter, I work at the Bay State Model Railroad Museum . I get up at 4:20 a.m. , and get home at 7:00 p.m. so, I don't have time to re-build The Dustbowl, er, The Pennsy. When Scott asked me to help, my first response was, “It's golf season.” He then told me that Dick Elwell was going to do the wiring and switch motors. Dick Elwell, now there's someone who can put 25-pounds of @#$% in a Dixie Cup. Jimmy C Meets Jimmy D Just for the record, when I was asked to help, my role was to clean and identify any parts of the layout that needed to be repaired or replaced. Scott wanted a second set of eyes in case he missed anything. Scott misses nothing! Well, almost. He certainly didn't miss the opportunity to get me involved in this project up to my neck. After spending a few days in June cleaning the layout, he called me to come over his house to meet Jimmy. Scott and I are standing in his driveway looking at the layout when a van pulls up. Soon Jimmy rolls around to the front of the garage and Scott introduces us. The connection is made – no, not Jimmy and I, Jimmy and The Pennsy. As he's sitting there with a look of a kid at Christmas time, I begin to believe that these two are of one spirit. Both Jimmy and The Pennsy are recovering from a near-death experience. With a medical staff of Mason, Elwell, Leonard and Frary, I feel like my only qualifications to this project is to empty bedpans. I'm not only hooked, I'm in the boat. That Mason is an evil man! Godzilla Comes to The Pennsy I'd like to share one story you all can identify with. There comes a time in most projects when you hit the wall, and it's best for you and the project to separate before major damage sets in. When I had arrived at Scott's house early that August day, he had just spent two glorious hours in the scorching heat, working on the hidden track under the coal branch, being gouged by fifty exposed screws. By the look on his face, I knew the people of Central Pennsylvania were in serious trouble. “Scott, put down that hammer. You're scaring the kids!” I told Scott he needed a break before this project drove him crazy. He said, “I think I've reached that point.” “Let's check,” I said. “It's a simple test.” I told him I'd fill a bathtub with water, and beside it, put a spoon, a coffee cup, and a bucket. “How would you empty the tub?” I asked. “That's easy,” he said. “I'd use the bucket, it's faster. How would you do it?” I told him I'd pull the plug, and asked him if he'd like a room with a window, or without. Well folks, it's early October, and The Pennsy is done, or so I thought. I'm about to go on vacation, so I won't be around when The Pennsy is moved to Jimmy's, but that doesn't stop me from giving Scott 20 minutes of directives on how it should be done. Scott is a very patient man…bless his soul. Peninsula…What Peninsula ? “I just need some help framing the peninsula,” famous last words. Golf season is winding down, so I tell Scott that if it rains, I'll be over to help. It's about this time that I learn Jimmy Deignan has a direct line to God. It rains for nine straight days…nine freakin' straight days. I guess I have the time after all. The best part of working on The Pennsy was that I got to meet and work with Dave Frary. His stories always made the days go by faster, even when we were freezing in Scott's garage. Dave reminds me of Dick Elwell. They are both fabulous modelers, true gentlemen, and love to laugh at Scott's expense. The one thing that impressed me about Dave was that he always said, “Thanks for your help” when I was leaving. He made it sound like I was working on his layout. (I guess in a way, I was.) Lastly, I'd like to thank Jimmy for supplying the already built dioramas. This, we figured, saved about 1,400 hours of work. Well, the layout is back in one piece, and boy does it look great! I think Jimmy will soon have his bed moved to the basement. Why would you want to sleep anywhere else? Thanks for including me in the project. It was an honor. Jim Corcoran - Norton , MA
Chapter 44 Long Distance Assistance By Bob Leonard The last time I talked to Scott he asked if I would provide my perspective of the resurrection of the Pennsy Middle Division. In reality I cannot offer much as to what went on or how it was done, I unfortunately could only enjoy this as many of the forumites did, from afar! I did not even get my hands dirty, but I can provide a few thoughts. I have known Scott for a quite some time. I remember him as a svelte (165 lbs) young man, I remember him with hair. I remember him at a Christmas party with his youngest daughter cradled in his arms. I have known him for a very long time and during that time he has, as we all have, taken on more than what would be considered, wise! As we mature and grow with wisdom, we do not take on those projects that may push us over the edge, we realize with age not to screw with history. But, not Scott! After Scott had committed to the project, he called me one evening and told me what he wanted to accomplish and the time frame in which it was to be accomplished. It was at this point I thought he should be committed for considering this fantasy and biting off more than he could chew. He has been known to extend himself and teeter on the brink. But, he had a plan and it was logical if not energetic and the enthusiasm was infectious. He tempted me to come join the fun, offering the task of rebuilding the benchwork, aligning the old track, laying new track, sweating in the garage mid-summer, scraping ballast from the cork, he offered a corner of the basement in which to rest, but the commute would have killed me. It would have been enjoyable but it was not to be and all I could offer was a few books for research. Come to think of it he still has the books, he's probably using them as foundations for the structures on the layout? We were on the phone now and again and he would provide a status report on the trials and tribulations of the progress. Another phone call, another enticement, the weather has improved and I can rest in the garage instead of the basement, the weather is a little warmer. In a previous chapter, Scott mentioned that he, a nameless individual, and myself took on the task of building a basement layout using the B&M and Rutland railroads as the basis for everything. I spent many a long hour in that basement; Scott probably thought he could get the same work schedule out me for this project, but that was 15 years ago. Again, the commute! But, during the conversation, he asked for some ideas for a peninsula track plan to join the two revamped sections. I remember he said he had put out a general request to everyone on the forum, so I figured I could stick one in with the rest of the contributions. Anyway, we talked about it and he wanted something that was fairly standard, basic “L-girder” construction. I drew four plans using the same general footprint of the peninsula that was shown for each one of them. Scott and Jimmy completely discarded the “Circle 8” proposal, something about a seven inch rise in eight feet was not agreeable to their purpose, or something to that affect? Jimmy did not have engines with traction tires on every driver or, Horseshoe Curve doesn't look right with a 32, 30, 27, and 24-inch radius. One complaint after another! Actually, after I gave him the plan I never heard about it again, I did not know what it looked like until I saw the pictures. Good move for Scott, without me knowing what is going on I cannot offer an opinion. I have been known to offer an opinion when was not asked for, but that is another story. Scott took great pains to explain the parameters and the purpose of the peninsula, first and foremost was that Jimmy was to have maneuverability. Both of them wanted as much linear run as possible and provide ample aisle width for Jimmy's chair. I should have asked for particulars about Jimmy's chair, (length and width would have been wise questions) because somewhere during the process of drawing the plan I missed a dimension. Or, a dimension was not there to start with, or who knows? It was an important dimension; it was so important that a wall was moved to compensate for the dimension. Good thing the aisle between the peninsula and the wall was not on an exterior wall, explain that deviation to Code Enforcement, “Well I need to move the wall because my railroad needs the extra foot.” Barring that inconvenience, the peninsula appears to fit well within the two loops. Now that I think of it, maybe Scott cut the “L-girders” too long, or the expandable foam got away from him? We know how he has issues with the foam! So that was the extent of my contributions, research material and a drawing. As I said earlier, I did not have the enjoyment of getting my hands dirty. I believe those who physically get involved reap the most enjoyment once the task is accomplished. It's a damn good thing that Scott can draw from such a wealth of knowledge. I remain envious of the task and envious of the players and what was accomplished! Scott in his exuberance proved that with expertise, skill, determination, hard work, and friendship of those close to him, an individual's dream of an empire could be a reality. Mssrs. Corcoran, Elwell, Frary, and Mason, you all can be proud of your accomplishment. I believe Mr. Deignan is smiling! Bob Leonard Ft. Lauderdale , FL Chapter 45 Dick Gets It Running Restoring the Pennsy was an arduous task. Building the new peninsula was an exercise in cramming three years of work into three months. It would be all for not if the layout doesn't run. We're pretty confident that the new peninsula will be trouble-free, and for the most part, our confidence is not betrayed, but the original sections of the layout are another story. While most of the original trackwork was replaced, there is still enough in the hidden areas, along with two original curved turnouts, to make me lose sleep. My biggest fear is that the track in the hidden areas is bad. Trying to replace it would be a nightmare. After many telephone calls to discuss the trackplan, progress, and pre-wiring considerations, the day arrives for Dick Elwell to step to work his magic. Dick arrives at Jimmy's house at 9:00 on a Saturday morning (I'm at the train show in Timonium…a story for another day). He has pre-wired several of the DCC components, and is hopeful that the track will carry the DCC current around the entire layout. That will make his job easy. By the end of the day, the NCE system is in, and while the new peninsula is running fine, the rest of the layout isn't. Dick needs another day to shoot the troubles, and hopefully get everything operational. Yesterday, Dick and I went back to Jimmy's. We identify some problems with the trackwork, and work out a plan to repair them. I shim one turnout that crosses a joint between the new peninsula and the old layout. That solves one derailment problem. Dick checks for electrical continuity, and finds that most of the layout is connected electrically. We run a locomotive around the left hand peninsula, through the new peninsula and up to the tunnel portals before it dies on us. I suspect that the hidden track under the coal branch is dirty. Dick hands me some emery cloth and sends me underneath to make repairs. While I'm under the coal branch, my worst fear is realized. I have a broken rail joint on a piece of track that I soldered over summer…a piece that connects two of the benchwork sections. It took me forever to get the track soldered together back in July, and I knew then that if anything ever happened that caused it to become damaged, I was in a world of trouble. Because that part of the layout is up against a wall, it is next to impossible to get to the track to make repairs. Not only is the track very difficult to reach, but it's difficult to see due to the amount of space under the layout. To make matters worse, there's a wall heater in that area, and the heat is stifling under there. I spend quite a bit of time wrestling with the track with no luck. Finally, I ask Dick to take a look and give some advice. He does better than that. He takes over for me, and about three hours later, has repaired one piece of track. When we finally call it quits for the day, Jimmy is able to run a train around the entire layout. Success. There's still some tweaking that needs to be done, and hopefully will wrap up our ever-shrinking punch list next week. Chapter 46 The End of the Line A model railroad is never really finished in the pure sense of the word, but for the most part, the Pennsylvania Railroad Middle Division is complete. And so too, this diary has come to an end. Over the past 10 months, I've been fortunate to work with a very talented team of model railroaders to resurrect a layout that probably should have gone in the dumpster. Not only were we able to bring it back to its former glory, we made many improvements, and took advantage of modern techniques and technology. We added a large center peninsula. We made the layout handicapped accessible. We made it more operationally efficient, and best of all, we did this for someone who no longer has the ability to do it for himself. In the process, we got to know, and make friends with Jimmy and Jacynta, two wonderful and courageous people. The saying, “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” seems to be their mantra. There are still some things that need tweaking, but the list keeps getting shorter. Dirty track seems to be the biggest hurdle now. I'm amazed at how much grime can accumulate on the rails. Piecing four sections of benchwork together to make one is also not an easy task, and some shimming needed to be done to get the track aligned properly. Jim Corcoran worked tirelessly to line everything up. We've got a couple of nuisance spots on the mainline. Diesels run fine, but the more finicky steam locomotives seem to give us a hard time. There's a spot under the coal branch where the rail lifted out of the ties, and it causes the lead trucks on steam locos to derail. The points on one of the curved turnouts don't make tight contact with the stock rail, and causes a dead spot. Once we install a switch machine there, that problem should go away. There's still a little ballasting to be done around the engine facility, and some scenery also needs to be finished there. The roundhouse and turntable are in place, but some adjusting is necessary before the turntable is operational. All these things will be accomplished within the next few weeks. I've got a timetable to keep. The opening segment of my next DVD will be shot on the Pennsy, and production starts this month. I can't close this down without thanking the people involved. Jim Corcoran had no idea what he was volunteering for when he stepped foot in my garage that night in June. He got more than he bargained for. He was the glue that kept me together, and always seemed to show up at the right time to help, or get me out of there for a break. Dick Elwell spent countless hours developing cauliflower ear from me chewing on it. His advice and counseling, and later on, his expertise in wiring and troubleshooting brought the layout to life. He is a true craftsman. Bob Leonard looked at the original trackplan, and devised a plan for the new peninsula that captured the essence of the original, and allowed for more operation. Rich Josselyn created a photographic record of the damage that had been done to the original layout since it left Dave Frary's possession in 1993. His work will be an integral part of the history of the Pennsy. What can you say about Dave Frary that hasn't already been said in bar rooms and bathroom stalls all over the country? Dave designed and built the scenery on the new peninsula, and created a new masterpiece in the process. His work is impeccable, and his work ethic is hard to keep up with. My wife not only helped me lug the original six sections from Jimmy's house, but put up with my commandeering of the entire garage from June through January. Proving once again that brains are more important that brawn, she made herself disappear each time we had to move parts of the layout back to Jimmy's. Jimmy is a great person for whom to work. His sense of humor is contagious, and nothing really bothers him. If I told him we needed something, he got it. He was attentive to my ideas, and only made fun of me a little. He has been generous to a fault. Jacynta did so much behind-the-scenes work. She did carpentry to get the train room ready. She painted the backdrop (and did a fabulous job). She built structures that are now on the layout. She scrubbed, and cleaned to get ready for an open house, and she sewed the layout skirt two weeks after surgery. She never stops. Jimmy is a very lucky guy. And, certainly not least, I want to thank everyone who has read this diary. I tried to keep an accurate record of what we did to restore and re-build this model railroad. I appreciate all the feedback, and words of encouragement. I have been approached by a publisher who would like to turn this work into a book. It will require some work on my part to put it in that form, as this was written as a diary. I'm taking it into consideration. Again, thank you. Scott Mason - Franklin , MA - April 5, 2006 |
